The US Department of Defense (DOD) has taken action to make improvements after “unserviceable and poorly packaged” equipment and munitions were sent to Taiwan under the US Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), the department said on Friday.
The PDA is a process under which the US can send equipment and weapons from existing stocks to its allied partners in crisis situations.
In July last year, the administration of US President Joe Biden authorized as much as US$345 million in defense articles and services to be sent to Taiwan under the presidential drawdown.
Photo: Screen grab from US Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Web site
“Taiwan is a key security cooperation partner, and the US government is committed to ensuring that equipment delivered to this partner is sufficient for operational use,” department spokesman Pete Nguyen said.
The department would learn from this experience, which was the first of its kind, and “has taken action to improve its PDA process for Taiwan,” Nguyen said.
The response came after the department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed in its report last week that the department had provided shipments of unserviceable and poorly packaged equipment and munitions to Taiwan from November last year to March.
MOLDY BODY ARMOR
“We appreciate the perspective this report brings to a complex and unique issue for a critical security cooperation partner and anticipate the positive impact it will have on the department moving forward,” Nguyen said.
The department in December last year delivered to Taiwan 120 water damaged pallets, which contained wet and moldy body armor, according to personnel from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto US embassy, the OIG report said.
The pallets remained at Travis Air Force Base for more than three months because the US Army did not begin initiating requests for Special Airlift Assignment Mission flights to Taiwan until December, the OIG said.
Taiwanese authorities had to spend weeks “unpacking, drying and inventorying the wet and moldy equipment,” it said.
REVIEW
In the same month, the Ministry of National Defense issued a letter to the AIT stating that Taiwan received 2.7 million rounds of ammunition from the department, including some that were expired, in a mix of original, loose and incorrect packaging, it said.
“The DOD did not effectively or efficiently implement accountability and quality controls for items delivered to Taiwan,” it said in the report, adding that those actions “inhibit the DOD’s ability to achieve established security cooperation goals and may lead to loss of partner confidence in the United States.”
The ministry on Friday said the shipments of equipment and munitions have been jointly reviewed and handled accordingly by Taiwan and the US, without elaborating.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS