As the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission officially released its annual report to the US Congress on Wednesday, commissioner Dan Blumenthal said there was unanimous agreement that “something must be done” to improve Taiwan’s air defense capabilities.
Addressing a packed hearing room in the US Senate, Blumenthal said there was “no silver bullet” that could balance the military forces facing each other across the Taiwan Strait, but that Congress needed to review the situation in a comprehensive manner.
Blumenthal, a China analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, said it was not up to the commission to recommend the sale of specific arms packages to Taipei, such as the 66 advanced F-16C/D fighter aircraft that Taiwan wants to buy.
Other sources said a number of the 12 bipartisan commissioners wanted US President Barack Obama to sell the aircraft to Taiwan, but that to get a unanimous report it decided not to include that specific recommendation in the document.
Blumenthal said all the commissioners agreed that, given the “sober facts on the eroding cross-strait air balance,” Congress had to take some action.
He hoped the report would result in the Pentagon working more closely with Taiwan on “a host” of issues that would lead to more stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Details of the report’s recommendations concerning Taiwan were published yesterday in the Taipei Times.
Created 10 years ago to advise Congress on policy toward China, the commission’s report this year was largely negative toward Beijing.
Commission vice chairwoman Carolyn Bartholomew warned that in addition to improving its air force, China had boosted its offensive air and missile capabilities and strengthened its capacity to threaten US forces and bases in the region.
“Currently, China’s conventional missile capabilities alone may be sufficient to temporarily knock out five of the six US air bases in East Asia,” she said.
“Saturation missile strikes could destroy US air defenses, runways, parked aircraft, and fuel and maintenance facilities. Complicating this scenario is the future deployment of China’s anti-ship ballistic missile, which could hold US aircraft carriers at bay outside their normal operating range,” Bartholomew said.
The 316-page report paints a dark picture of what could happen if China attacked Taiwan in the current circumstances.
According to one expert who testified before the commission, China could potentially deliver “a staggering blow” to the Taiwanese air force in the first minutes and hours of any cross-strait conflict.
Using just a quarter of its short-range ballistic missile force, China could “cut every runway at Taiwan’s ten main fighter operating bases and damage or destroy virtually every unsheltered aircraft located on them.”
“The PLA [People’s Liberation Army] Air Force would likely target any aircraft that survived the initial onslaught,” the report says.
“At this stage, without outside military support for Taiwan, the PLA would possess air superiority over the island and be able to conduct attacks on a wide range of military and economic targets with minimal losses,” it says.
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS