A recent White House promise to “seriously consider” selling -F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan could upset US-China security negotiations this week, the Washington-based The Hill newspaper reported.
“The administration’s shift on Taiwan could prompt Beijing to pull its support for a number of key security initiatives being pursued by the US,” it said.
It quoted former senior China analyst at the CIA Chris Johnson as saying the possible sale of fighters had “real potential to sour the tenor of the discussions.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are conducting high-level economic and security talks with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing.
Johnson said the F-16C/D issue could “throw a wrench” into the ability to move forward on pressing issues concerning North Korea, Syria and Iran.
After weeks of intense negotiation, China has backed a Syria peace plan proposed by US-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
“But Beijing could theoretically pull its support for the plan in protest of any proposed arms sales to Taiwan,” said the article, written by senior political staff members and published on its Web site.
Beijing’s relations with Iran will “almost assuredly” grow stronger if the US does end up selling fighters to Taiwan, it said.
It said the possible sale of fighter aircraft to Taiwan was an example of the administration of US President Barack Obama taking a harder line against China’s growing influence.
“It was also considered a savvy piece of political maneuvering by Obama, who is looking to counter presumptive GOP [Republican] presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s criticism of the administration’s record on China,” the newspaper said.
Patrick Cronin, a specialist on Asian-Pacific security at the Center for a New American Security, said the White House might have been prompted to make a policy shift on Taiwan by “recent reports claiming Beijing supplied North Korea with critical weapons technology.”
Cronin said the technology was used by Pyongyang to build new mobile missile launchers.
Earlier this week, former American Institute in Taiwan director Douglas Paal said during an interview with a Washington radio station that the White House letter concerning the F-16s “bears the marks of not being fully professionally prepared.”
The White House letter was delivered to Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn last week and promised the president would give new serious consideration to selling F-16C/Ds to Taiwan.
Paal said the letter was “causing ripples” both on Capitol Hill and in the policy community.
“But it’s out there and it’s the statement of the president now, and so, therefore, we have to live with it and find a way to get through these upcoming talks this week without having it blow up over the sense that China has core interests in Taiwan that we are transgressing,” Paal said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and