In a surprising turn of events over US arms sales to Taiwan, a US senator said he would use his powers to block a full Senate vote on the appointment of a new deputy secretary of state until Washington approves the sale of F-16C/D aircraft requested by Taipei.
US Senator for Texas John Cornyn, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the US Department of State must inform Taipei that it would act on a formal Letter of Request (LOR) from the Taiwanese government to purchase 66 new F-16C/Ds. Should Washington fail to do so, Cornyn said he would use his powers to block a full Senate vote on the nomination of William Burns, currently US undersecretary of state for political affairs, as deputy secretary of state, the Washington Times reported on Wednesday, citing information from Senate aides.
Cornyn’s threatened hold also applies to the release by the Pentagon of a long-delayed report to Congress on the balance of air power in the Taiwan Strait.
Photo: EPA
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Burns’ appointment during a meeting on Thursday. Also approved were the nominations of US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke as ambassador to China and Ryan Crocker as ambassador to Afghanistan. A full Senate vote is now required before the appointments can be confirmed.
To date, Taiwan has submitted three LORs to the US on the F-16C/Ds. All three were made by the administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). The administrations of former US president George W. Bush and US President Barack Obama have refused to accept the letters, reportedly over concerns about possible negative repercussions on US-China relations.
Asked for comment about Cornyn’s gambit, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council Rupert Hammond-Chambers was upbeat about the significance of the move.
“Finally we’re seeing real ways by the Congress to provide real leverage on the government to act on the F-16s,” he told the Taipei Times yesterday, adding that this would force the Obama administration to respond.
As to how long Cornyn could force a hold on the vote, Hammond-Chambers said it was hard to tell and that to give a timeline would telegraph to the US State Department how long it needed to wait things out.
“Taiwan should submit a new LOR immediately,” he said.
For his part, former Taiwanese representative to Washington Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said the development meant that the Obama administration would find itself under pressure to make a decision.
“This will come from various corners, including the US Congress, the policy community, Taipei and the media ... especially after statements [by Hammond-Chambers during testimony at the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs on June 16] that the US administration has declined to receive the LORs,” Wu said.
This also puts pressure on the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration to submit a new LOR as soon as possible, he said.
Wu nevertheless said that other factors could continue to delay a response by the Obama administration.
“If something is going to happen, I’d say timing will be an important factor. This applies to the elections in Taiwan,” he said. “The presidential election in the US also needs to be considered.”
GOOD INFLUENCE: Kwan said his mother tutored him at home for a few years, saying that she had to protect his ‘creativity’ as his writing had suffered Director and coproducer of the Oscar-winning absurdist comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan (關家永) on Sunday dedicated the movie to his Taiwanese mother, who he said supported his creativity growing up. “She is someone who sacrificed a lot for her kids,” Kwan, 35, said backstage at the Oscars. The movie, released early last year, received a commanding 11 nominations at the Academy Awards, and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, with whom he also directed the 2016 fantasy film Swiss Army
A domestically developed “suicide drone,” also known as a loitering munition, would be tested and evaluated in July, and could enter mass production next year, Taiwan’s weapons developer said on Wednesday. The yet-to-be-named drone was among nine drone models unveiled by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) on Tuesday. The drone has been dubbed the “Taiwanese switchblade” by Chinese-language media, due to its similarity to the US-made AeroVironment Switchblade 300, which has been used by Ukraine in counterattacks during Russia’s invasion. It has a range of more than 10km, a flight time of more than 15 minutes, and an electro-optical
Three people arrested earlier this year for growing cannabis plants with an estimated street value of nearly NT$20 million (US$652,507) in Chiayi County earlier this year could be sentenced to life in prison for breaching the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), Taichung police said yesterday. A couple, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and suspect surnamed Hsu (徐) were found cultivating 91 cannabis plants on a farm in the county after law enforcement agents raided the site in the middle of January when they were about to harvest the field, Taichung police told a news conference. Taichung police said they were tipped off last year
HYGIENE KEY: The CDC reported two cases of enterovirus 71, which can cause serious complications, and as there have been no recent outbreaks, children are not immune Two cases of enterovirus 71 (EV71) were reported last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that it was a warning sign, as the virus has not been detected for more than a year. Parents are advised to remind their children to practice good hand hygiene, it said. Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉), director of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Center, said that 165,230 people visited a hospital for diarrhea last week, which is a high number. Most of the diarrhea case clusters were caused by norovirus infection, but there were also enterovirus cases, and weekly caseloads are slowly increasing, Guo said. Most of
RSS