The administration of US President Barack Obama came under new pressure on Thursday to sell advanced F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan.
While Obama has refused to sell the fighters as part of an arms package announced last month, the White House has said that a sale is still under consideration.
That consideration is likely to be boosted by a new report from Stephen Fuller, an economist at George Mason University in Virginia.
Fuller concludes that the US economy is at risk of losing more than 1 million jobs and US$1 trillion in economic investment in the aerospace sector as a result of projected defense budget cuts.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert -Hammond-Chambers said: “The impending financial tsunami to hit the defense and aerospace sector comes at a time when the Taiwan government seeks to procure 66 -replacement F-16C/D fighters for its aging fighter fleet — a purchase that would result in a gross investment of almost nine billion dollars.”
He said the investment would support more than 16,000 jobs.
In contrast to the “dire consequences” of the defense budget cuts, Hammond-Chambers said, a sale of F-16C/Ds to Taiwan would have a positive economic impact throughout the US.
“Should the Taiwan sale fail to materialize, however, current orders would only sustain the F-16 production line for another two years,” he said. “The closing of the F-16 production line would simply add further job losses to the sector, impacting the US states already hit hard by the proposed budget cuts.”
With Obama up for re-election next year and polls indicating that he is in political trouble as a result of the poor economy, he could be increasingly sensitive to the F-16 situation.
“There is already a strong strategic case in favor of releasing new F-16s to Taiwan. US economic security would also be well served by the sale,” Hammond-Chambers said. “Yet the Obama administration has not moved forward on this issue due to concerns over China’s sensitivities.”
“The US-Taiwan Business Council believes that the US government should be evaluating the F-16C/D sale based on the needs of Taiwan and on its significant beneficial impact on the US economy, not on China’s foreign policy priorities,” he said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS