A letter signed by 181 members of the US Congress was sent to the White House on Monday urging US President Barack Obama to sell advanced F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan.
Obama has promised to make a decision on the sale by Oct. 1 and there is growing concern that he is being influenced by China’s strong opposition.
The letter came as a hearing on Taiwan policy — before the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs — was suddenly canceled when Congress decided to adjourn for summer recess following a controversial vote to raise the federal debt limit.
That hearing, at which US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Derek Mitchell are due to testify, is now likely to be held in the middle of next month.
Both Campbell and Mitchell are expected to face sharp criticism over the way the Obama administration appears to have consulted Beijing about the requested arms sale.
Under former US president Ronald Reagan’s so-called “Six Assurances,” the US pledged not to consult China about arms sales decisions.
“In order to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, we believe it is critical for the US to sell the government of Taiwan all the F-16C/D [aircraft] it requires,” the congressional letter to Obama said. “We respectfully request that your administration move quickly to announce its support for such a sale and submit the required Congressional Notification for a sale as soon as possible.”
The letter said that China has more than 1,400 missiles aimed at Taiwan and continues to add to this total, deploying next--generation technology.
“Military experts both in Taiwan and in the US have raised alarms that Taiwan is losing its qualitative advantage in defensive arms that have long served as a primary military deterrent,” the letter said.
Within the next decade, the letter added, Taiwan will retire 70 percent of its jet fighter force and without new fighter aircraft and upgrades to its existing fleet of F-16s, Taiwan’s situation could become “quite precarious.”
The members of Congress said they were “deeply concerned” that delays in the decision on the sale of F-16s could result in a closure of the F-16 assembly line, making future deliveries impossible.
“In addition to enhancing Taiwan’s security, approval of the sale would support thousands of American jobs — especially well-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector,” the letter added.
While there can now be no doubt of major congressional support for the F-16 sale, that support may not have a great impact on Obama.
He is more likely to be influenced by advice from his National Security Council and the US Department of State.
A blog published on the Wall Street Journal Web site on Monday reported that “influential figures” had publicly called for the US to pull away from Taiwan to foster “increasingly key relations” with China.
It said that military exchanges between the US and China had been cut off by Beijing in the past when the US sold weapons to Taiwan.
“Analysts say the planes are vital for Taiwan as it seeks to replenish its aging fleet of fighters. But China seems to be drawing a line in the sand, with analysts saying Beijing would be more willing to accept a long-delayed upgrade to Taiwan’s older F-16A/Bs than sales of new F-16C/Ds,” the blog said. “Due to the timing of the October 1 decision, which falls between two high-level US-China diplomatic exchanges and on China’s National Day, most do not think the US will accept Taiwan’s request for the new planes.”
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 —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS