The US has frozen arms sales to Taiwan until the end of the Beijing Olympics and possibly until US President George W. Bush leaves office, the latest edition of Defense News said.
The periodical reported on Monday that the US State Department had elected to freeze all congressional notifications — an essential process prior to approval — for weapons sales to Taiwan.
The sales would amount to some US$12 billion for the acquisition of 30 Apache Longbow attack helicopters, 60 Black Hawk helicopters, eight diesel electric submarines, four PAC-3 air defense missile batteries and 66 F-16 fighter aircraft.
Twelve Orion maritime patrol aircraft were not subject to the freeze because they had already been approved for delivery, the periodical said.
Sources told Defense News that the unprecedented move came at the behest of Beijing-friendly officials at the US State Department and officials at the US embassy in Beijing, who believe that Washington should “placate China.” The purpose was to smooth the way for talks between China and Taiwan and for Bush to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, they said.
The periodical quoted Mark Stokes, executive director of the Project 2049 Institute think tank and former country director for China and Taiwan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as saying the freeze contravened the Taiwan Relations Act, a piece of legislation supporting Taiwan’s security that came into effect when Washington recognized Beijing 30 years ago.
The Defense News sources disagreed on when the freeze would be lifted, but there were reported to be fears in Taiwanese circles that the move could become permanent after the inauguration of the new US president amid warming ties between Taiwan’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and Beijing.
Yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense told the Taipei Times that “everything is under control.”
“I have no comment on the story, but I can assure you that our regular communication and cooperation with the US remain intact,” ministry spokeswoman Colonel Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) said.
But a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman expressed concerns over the report.
“If that happens, then I think the KMT should take all responsibility,” DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said.
Lai said that all the weapons on the list were items that the previous DPP government had sought to purchase from the US for a long time.
He said much of the procurement process had been delayed because of the KMT’s boycott in the legislature’s National Defense Committee, now known as the Diplomacy and National Defense Committee.
“Ever since Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) entered the Presidential Office, the KMT has been pushing the country in China’s favor. It does not surprise me that the US has come up with this decision at this time,” Lai said.
Diplomacy and National Defense Committee member and KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said he was not concerned by the development.
He said any freeze would bring a degree of relief to cross-strait ties and that the US wanted to see a harmonious relationship develop between China and Taiwan.
Lin, however, said he believed the US would sell the weapons to Taiwan in the end anyway.
KMT legislative caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) had no comment on the matter when approached by the Taipei Times.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS