The head of a prominent business group accused US President Barack Obama of compromising Taiwan’s security to promote US ties with China.
Taiwan is watching “with increased exasperation,” said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council.
Hammond-Chambers said the US departments of state and defense, as well as the US Trade Representative, appeared interested in building closer US ties with Taipei despite resulting complications in the US-China relationship.
“Regrettably, this effort runs smack into a White House that clearly views Taiwan as a barrier to US interests in Asia,” he wrote in an annual year-end report dated Thursday and distributed on Friday.
Obama, much like his predecessor, former US president George W. Bush, has slowed the submission of proposed Taiwan arms sales to Congress, over fears, analysts say, of disrupting China-Taiwan rapprochement and to avoid angering Beijing.
“If the Obama administration balks at providing replacement F-16 fighters to Taiwan, China will have won a major victory in the Taiwan Strait without firing a shot,” Hammond-Chambers said.
The updating of Taiwan’s F-16 fleet was a “material response” to Beijing’s own fighter modernization, he added.
The council’s board chairman is Paul Wolfowitz, a former World Bank president and former US deputy secretary of defense. The group has long advocated arms sales to Taipei, including meeting its wish to buy 66 advanced F-16C/D fighter jets to update its F-16 fleet.
The council represents scores of companies doing business with Taiwan, including Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon’s No. 1 supplier by sales, Boeing Co and Raytheon Co.
China strongly opposes all US arms sales to Taiwan.
Stating his belief that the “strong support for Taiwan strengthens both our own and Taiwan’s standing with China,” Hammond-Chambers listed in his report four priorities the business group has outlined as its work for this year.
The priorities include the council pushing for a full resumption of US-Taiwan trade and investment framework agreement meetings without preconditions and with an agenda that identifies areas of liberalization that can — in some way — counter China’s efforts to challenge US economic interests in Taiwan.
The council will also press for an end to the US administration’s habit of notifying Congress of its decision to sell arms to Taiwan, as a package, and instead make one-by-one notifications on weapons that it deems ready to be sold to Taiwan. Congress has the power to stop the sales.
“Packaging” of arms sales, a practice begun by Bush in 2007 in “a vain attempt to reduce Chinese ire” over what it regards as interference in its domestic affairs, undermines US resolve to help Taiwan defend itself and significantly weakens Taiwan’s defense modernization, Hammond-Chambers said.
The council will also support the acceptance of a Letter of Request for 66 F-16s to replace Taiwan’s aging F-5s and Mirage 2000s and to offer some material response to China’s ongoing investment in fourth generation fighters, such as the J-10.
The council will also support the resumption of visits to Taiwan by US Cabinet officials to promote US economic interests in Taiwan.
The White House declined to comment on the criticism, which echoed the group’s unhappiness with Bush’s delay in meeting Taiwan’s arm requests. Washington has placed more importance in recent years on working with China, a veto-wielding UN Security Council member, including on such matters as North Korea, Iran and climate change.
Vance Chang (張鷹), spokesman at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, had no immediate comment.
Hammond-Chambers said several other arms deals that are in the works — including UH-60 Black Hawk tactical transport helicopters built by United Technologies Corp’s Sikorsky Aircraft unit and PAC-3 missile batteries and missiles built by Lockheed and Raytheon — have been ready for notification to Congress for more than a year.
The business council had expected those sales would move forward after trips Obama made to China in November and a climate change conference in Copenhagen last month, Hammond-Chambers said.
“But it now appears as if that timetable is slipping,” Hammond-Chambers wrote. “The Chinese government can view these extended periods of delay, angst, and commensurate half-decisions and non-decisions as important improvements in their position on this issue.”
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
SHOT IN THE ARM: The new system can be integrated with Avenger and Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, a defense ministry report said Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday. The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions. Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am. The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned