There may be a new round of US arms sales to Taiwan next year, it was predicted on Friday at a Washington conference on cross-strait relations.
Experts refused to speculate on just what might be sold, but sources outside the conference said it was unlikely to include submarines or new advanced fighter planes.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace vice president for studies Douglas Paal told the conference that “inevitably” there would be another round of arms sales to Taiwan toward the end of the administration of US President Barack Obama.
After first saying that US-China relations had experienced a “very rocky, scratchy” year, Paal said that Taiwan had military “needs” and that there was a broad consensus in the US to meet those needs.
The conference, organized by the Brookings Institution and the Association of Foreign Relations, was aimed at analyzing “key opportunities and challenges in cross-strait relations under new domestic, regional and global conditions.”
Paal, who once served as director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and was on the National Security staffs of former US presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said that it was not known how Beijing would react to new arms sales.
“How the PRC [People’s Republic of China] will react, in great measure depends on the quality of the US-China relationship that prevails at the time,” he said.
He said that currently the US-China military-to-military relationship had reached a new high in terms of good contact and interaction.
“The PRC continues to develop its military capabilities and it does not make an exception opposite Taiwan,” Paal said.
He said that Taiwan had to face China’s military challenges and that it had its own need to upgrade its weapons.
Taiwan, could not match China’s military expansion, keep a balance or develop an offensive capability, he said.
However, he said it needed a “minimum necessary defensive capability.”
Paal said that the Obama administration had an obligation under the Taiwan Relations Act to consider Taiwan’s needs while at the same time it wanted to maintain relations with China.
Thus, the administration had to play a “very difficult game — more than a game,” he said.
“The administration has to meet the requirements under law to help Taiwan defend itself, and to do so in a way that doesn’t push us in the direction of unnecessary friction or conflict,” he said.
Paal said that in his opinion, next year was going to be a better year to conduct the arms sales than 2016, the year of the next US presidential election.
“But under what circumstances, and what materials will be transferred, will depend heavily on lower-level discussions on what the needs are,” he said.
Paal said that arms sales could be expected before the end of the Obama administration, but precisely when would depend on conditions.
Stimson Center East Asia program director Alan Romberg agreed with Paal’s prediction.
AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt — who attended the conference, but was not one of the speakers — refused to comment on arms sales.
Pressed by members of the media to “say something” he said: “It’s a lovely day.”
‘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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS