Despite strong Chinese objections, there was a generally positive reaction throughout the US on Saturday to US President Barack Obama’s decision to sell more than US$6 billion in Patriot anti-missile systems, helicopters, mine-sweeping ships and communications equipment to Taiwan.
The Washington Post said that even though the new arms package did not include the sale of 66 F-16C/D fighters, “that does not mean the Obama administration has rejected Taiwan’s request.”
“The Defense Department is drawing up a report on the air power balance between China and Taiwan that could be used to push a decision,” it said.
The New York Times said that administration officials pointedly noted that they “were not shutting the door to future F-16 sales.”
The newspaper quoted a senior administration official as saying “we continue to study it [and] we will look at it from the perspective of what its impact would be on Taiwan’s defense capability.”
The New York Times reported Chinese reaction to the new arms sales was “swift and negative.”
The paper quoted Wang Baodong (王保東), the spokesman at the Chinese embassy in Washington, as saying: “We believe this move endangers China’s national security and harms China’s peaceful reunification efforts.”
An administration official told the Taipei Times that the possible future sale of F-16s would “undoubtedly” be raised directly by Beijing when US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visit China later this year for high-level talks.
Walter Lohman, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, issued a statement praising the sale, but added: “The President should now turn expeditiously to addressing needs that have been piling up — starting with the sale of the 66 advanced F-16C/Ds Taiwan has requested. These planes are the real meat of Taiwan’s pending requests — and even they, unfortunately, will not completely fill the need.”
He said the limited nature of the current sale signaled an unwillingness to sell anything that truly counters China’s “rapidly modernizing armed forces.”
He said: “What good is reserving the prerogative to sell weapons to Taiwan if we never get around to selling them what they need most?”
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that she was pleased with the sale of arms to Taiwan, but added: “It is my expectation that the administration will soon begin regular consultations with Congress on Taiwan security affairs, thereby fulfilling its responsibility under the law to work jointly with Congress to maintain Taiwan’s self-defense capacity.”
Asked about the US’ military-to-military relations with China and whether Taiwan had come up in discussions on this issue, a senior Obama administration official said: “Taiwan is always in the discussions in some form.”
“We sort of get used to the fact that Taiwan is a component of the way they think about their interests and their relationship with the US. We would hope that we can agree to disagree on this question,” the official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the White House had a lot of questions about China.
“Why is it modernizing its military? Why is it developing certain capabilities that we find to be challenging? Both sides, given our size and our presence in Asia, need to have a consistent dialogue so that people at all levels are reassured that China’s rise is indeed peaceful and that our intentions are indeed not contrary to China’s,” the official said.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military