A US sale of F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan would not set US-China relations back “in an irreversible way,” China specialist Bonnie Glaser told a panel in Washington on Monday.
A senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Glaser was speaking at an American Enterprise Institute discussion on “US, China and Taiwan: Why the triangle might get more complex.”
Nevertheless, there would be a “harsher reaction” from Beijing than was experienced last year following Washington’s offer to upgrade Taiwan’s existing fleet of older fighters, she said.
On Monday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) told a press conference in Beijing that a vote last week by the US House of Representatives that required the sale of at least 66 F-16C/Ds to Taiwan “constitutes a grave interference in China’s internal affairs.”
The order to sell the fighters was included in an amendment to the defense authorization bill that has still to be considered by the Senate.
“We have noticed that the China-related amendment in this bill speculates on China’s military development and calls for arms sales to Taiwan,” Hong said. “We are firmly opposed to that.”
Glaser said: “I don’t think that the US gets so much out of the military relationship with China that we should decide not to sell something to Taiwan because it might somehow set back our military relationship temporarily.”
“More importantly,” there was a continuing ongoing discussion in Washington and Taipei about the best weapons systems for Taiwan, she said.
“Taiwan faces many different kinds of threats,” Glaser said.
She said that more accurate Chinese missiles might destroy Taiwan’s runways, making it difficult to launch or land the F-16s.
There was now “reasonable discussion” Glaser said, as to whether the F-16C/Ds were “the best way for Taiwan to spend its money.”
Some people, she said, thought Taiwan would be better off buying vertical takeoff and landing F-35s.
Others, she said, believe Taiwan should not be investing in aircraft at all.
“This is a really important conversation for Taiwan and the US to have,” Glaser said.
Project 2049 Institute president Randy Schriver said: “We do these arms sales because our law demands it, given the military buildup opposite Taiwan. If China wants to impact our decision making on arms sales, the answer is quite simple. It should reduce the threat opposite Taiwan and we will respond accordingly.”
Schriver said that Ma’s “dramatic drop” in popularity since the election would limit his actions “across the full spectrum” of policy issues — but particularly in controversial and difficult areas.
At some point, he said, Beijing “may get a little more anxious and push for more progress.”
He said that while most Taiwanese supported economic ties and a growing trade relationship with China, they were “very skeptical” about political and security issues.
Schriver said that if there were going to be any breakthroughs in the cross-strait relationship, he would not expect to see “a lot of evidence” in advance.
“A lot of diplomacy between the two sides is going to go deep, deep, under — because we are moving into the more sensitive areas,” he said. “Talks about political issues and security issues will be very private, very quiet.”
If there was to be a breakthrough, it would come suddenly “as a result of secret diplomacy,” he said.
Washington’s ability to track such diplomacy was “limited” he said.
‘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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS