Taiwan is very much on the US’ radar and remains an important component of Washington’s strategy in the West Pacific, a top defense official said in an interview published yesterday.
Deputy Minister of National Defense Andrew Yang (楊念祖), who recently returned from one of his frequent visits to the US, told Defense News in an interview conducted late last month that while Taiwan does not figure prominently in the US rebalance — commonly referred to as the “pivot” — to Asia, Taipei and Washington have “widely” cooperated over the past two years or so.
“We have had continuous discussions on strategic relations between our two countries. We have also discussed joint operations and have had a lot of discussions on how to help us develop new doctrines reinforcing our defenses as a result of continuous modernization,” he said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan and the US have also had discussions on joint logistics support and training, he said, adding that the US was putting “a lot of effort into how to improve defense ties between Taipei and Washington.”
“Of course, we are continuously discussing how to help Taiwan develop so-called asymmetrical advanced capabilities, which is certainly very important for our self-defense and for preventing war in this region in the course of conducting rapprochement across the Taiwan Strait,” said Yang, who is policy coordinator at the ministry.
Echoing remarks by US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs Kurt Campbell, Yang said strong self-defense capabilities were “a very important pillar to support the peace process across the Taiwan Strait.”
Photo: Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo
He added he was very pleased with his meeting with US Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter in Washington on Oct. 2.
This was a “very candid and constructive” discussion that touched on a wide range of issues regarding defense cooperation under the umbrella of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
“He [Carter] emphasized that Taiwan was very much on the US radar,” Yang said. “When US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave the address at the 2012 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June, he also mentioned Taiwan regarding the US pivot towards Asia … so Taiwan is still part of the US’ Western Pacific strategy.”
“If you look at the [TRA], it emphasizes that Taiwan is very important for the security of the Western Pacific and the US fully supports Taiwan accessing sufficient defense articles, assistance and services,” Yang said.
Asked whether Washington’s continued refusal to sell Taiwan F-16C/Ds and diesel-electric submarines was a sign that the US might not continue to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons, Yang struck an optimistic note saying that Washington’s decision to upgrade Taiwan’s 145 F-16A/Bs had created “a very important window of opportunity to discuss further needs for advanced jet fighters.”
He added that the submarines were still very much on the table and remained a priority in defense acquisition, along with upgrades, modernization, systems integration and C4ISR capabilities. He added that the ministry had made the Executive Yuan aware that Taiwan would need a lot of money over the next two years or so to pay for the aggregate US$18 billion in arms sales released by the US in past years.
Yang said he did not believe the US was ignoring Taiwan’s defense needs to placate China nor was on the brink of abandoning it for the sake of better relations with Beijing.
“I heard some of these comments during my visit to Washington, but from the US government’s point of view, they are very much interested in improving ties with Taiwan,” he said.
“As far as I can see, I don’t think the US is unintentionally pushing Taipei towards Beijing,” Yang said, adding it would be “pretty bad” for the US and the region if Taiwan and China unified or drew strategically closer, because Washington would lose the trust of its Asia partners.
Turning to the ministry’s ongoing efforts to create armed forces made up entirely of volunteers by 2015, Yang said the nation faces a lot of challenges, but said the legislature had released the finances necessary to carry out the transformation.
Recruitment is scheduled to commence in January, with the number of soldiers dropping from 210,000 at present to 190,000 by 2015 and with no further plans for reduction following that drop, he said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to