The George W. Bush administration should send AIM-120 advanced air-to-air missiles to Taiwan as soon as they are produced this year in view of China's advances in its missile arsenal, a group of four US senators has urged.
In a letter Tuesday to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the senators said the administration should reverse the decision made when the missiles were promised to Taiwan to keep them in the US until China deploys similar operational capabilities.
They also disclosed that Taiwan is seeking to buy more of the missiles, but the purchase may hinge on the delivery of the first batch.
In its annual arms sale to Taiwan in 2000, the Bill Clinton administration agreed to sell Taiwan up to 120 of the AIM-120s, also referred to as AMRAAMs, with the proviso that Taiwan would not take delivery right away, an action that was criticized by Taiwan supporters in Washington at the time.
Pressure to deliver the missiles, which are expected to be available soon, grew earlier this month when the Washington Times reported that China had successfully fired a Russian-made AA-12 Adder missile.
The development brought China closer to parity with Taiwan's air capabilities in the Strait, military analysts said.
It also met the criterion set by the administration for transferring the AMRAAMs to Taiwan, they said.
It is understood that some high-level administration officials have been urging the early transfer of the missiles, but that no decision to reverse the Clinton decision has been made.
The AA-12 is a "beyond visual range" weapon in that a pilot does not have to see a target in order to hit it. It has a 50km range and can hone in on aircraft at four times the speed of sound.
"We believe that China's tests of the AA-12s should trigger the transfer of the AIM-120s to Taiwan as soon as they are produced," the senators said. "We understand that these missiles are currently under production, and that the first eight will be finished next month.
"Furthermore, we are told that there are negotiations underway for the sale of an additional 286 AIM-120s, but that Taiwan's legislature may not fund another contract unless the State Department's policy is changed to allow the actual transfer of the missiles," they said.
Signing the letter were former foreign relations committee chairman Jesse Helms, Republican Jon Kyl, Republican Robert Smith, and Democrat Robert Torricelli.
The lawmakers called the AA-12 firing a "major shift in air power across the Taiwan Strait.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS