A US professor is urging US President Barack Obama to make a deal with Beijing over the sale of advanced F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan.
“The warplanes should be used as bargaining chips,” said Missouri State University political science professor Dennis Hickey in an article published this week in the Los Angeles Times.
The article appeared on the eve of Obama’s departure on a four-nation tour of Asia, beginning yesterday, that will include two days in China and incorporate direct talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) that are certain to touch on US arms sales to Taiwan.
While the official agenda may be dominated by efforts to resolve the global financial crisis, climate change and nuclear proliferation in North Korea, Hickey said that most analysts agree that Beijing’s primary concern would be Washington’s continued military support of Taiwan.
In particular, the Chinese are known to strongly oppose Taiwan’s request for 66 upgraded F-16 fighters.
“Obama should not bow to Chinese pressure and scuttle the idea of F-16 sales,” Hickey wrote.
He said that the administration ought to explore the possibility of agreeing to a deal similar to that proposed by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) to former US president George W. Bush in 2002.
“The US should agree not to sell advanced fighters to Taiwan in exchange for the removal of the 1,500 ballistic missiles that China has deployed directly opposite Taiwan,” he said.
“Such an initiative could yield numerous dividends,” Hickey said.
He said that Beijing would seriously consider the proposal because it would generate goodwill in Taiwan.
It would also provide Taipei with tangible evidence that its policy of cooperation and conciliation with China is working.
“The current leaders would be able to more easily move forward with other measures aimed at rapprochement and enhance their prospects for re-election,” the professor said.
He pointed out that US officials have long emphasized that arms sales to Taiwan can serve as a stabilizing factor in East Asian affairs.
But in this instance, he said, the sale of high-profile F-16s would jeopardize relations with Beijing, undermine core US interests and help spark an arms race across the Taiwan Strait.
Hickey concluded: “If Washington uses the prospect of dropping such sales as a bargaining chip to persuade China to remove the missiles, it would help reduce cross-strait tensions, pave the way for closer Sino-American relations and promote peace and stability in the western Pacific.”
“The choice should be obvious,” Hickey said.
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
The National Fire Agency on Thursday said a series of drills simulating a magnitude 8.5 earthquake would be held in September to enhance the government’s emergency response capabilities. Since earthquakes cannot be predicted, only by continuously promoting disaster prevention measures could Taiwan enhance its resilience to earthquakes, agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) said in a news release. The exercises would be held to mark annual National Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 21, the aim of which is to test Taiwan’s preparedness and improve its earthquake resilience in case of a major temblor, Hsiao said. As part of those drills, an earthquake alert would
STRICTER ENFORCEMENT: Taipei authorities warned against drunk cycling after a sharp rise in riding under the influence, urging greater public awareness of its illegality Taipei authorities have issued a public warning urging people not to ride bicycles after consuming alcohol, following a sharp rise in riding under the influence (DUI) cases involving bicycles. Five hundred and seven people were charged with DUI last year while riding YouBikes, personal bicycles, or other self-propelled two-wheelers — a fourfold increase from the previous year, data released by the Taipei Police Department’s Traffic Division showed. Of these, 33 cases were considered severe enough to be prosecuted under “offenses against public safety,” the data showed. Under the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), bicycles — including YouBikes and other
RSS