The US Department of State has approved the potential sale of military technical assistance to Taiwan worth an estimated US$108 million — the fifth such deal under the administration of US President Joe Biden. The announcement came on Friday before a delegation led by former US secretary of defense Mark Esper arrived in Taiwan on Monday.
Similar to a weapons sale approved last month, the latest deal also does not contain any big-ticket items, and instead focuses on logistical support items and spare parts to help the military maintain its vehicles and combat systems.
The news has met a mixed response. Retired army general and deputy director of National Chengchi University’s Taiwan Center for Security Studies Richard Hu (胡瑞舟) welcomed the announcement, saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced the military to become more pragmatic and value the importance of logistics and equipment availability rates.
Senior military officials regularly receive rosy reports on availability rates from military units, but any military officer knows that a cursory inspection of the situation on the ground would reveal a significant discrepancy between reported equipment availability rates and reality, Hu said.
Some military commentators, including Chieh Chung (揭仲), a researcher at the Association of Strategic Foresight, asked whether the lack of new equipment sales might signify a policy change by the Biden administration. Taken into consideration with the abrupt postponement — and possible cancelation — of several weapons system purchases, the concern might be valid. In May, the Ministry of National Defense announced significant delays in the delivery of US-manufactured M109A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers vital to the modernization of the army’s field artillery. The US attributed the delay to a congested production line, but the ministry signaled that it had given up on the purchase and was looking for an alternative.
Some in Taiwan speculated at the time that Washington might have blocked the sale because it was unhappy with the direction of Taiwan’s military modernization program, and wanted Taipei to invest more funds in asymmetrical warfare capabilities, rather than expensive conventional weaponry such as fighter jets and tanks.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that the government is still waiting for a price quotation for the 66 F-16V Block 70 “Viper” warplanes approved for sale in August 2019 by the administration of then-US president Donald Trump.
AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, which would give the air force’s F16s cross-strait strike capability, is another weapons system first requested by the ministry in 2014 and approved by the Trump administration that has yet to be sold and delivered to Taiwan.
Taiwan has been making great strides toward the development of asymmetric capabilities, most notably with its indigenous missile program. Ironically, the nation had to conceal flight tests for its medium-long range surface-to-surface Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”) missile program during the late 1990s and early 2000s to avoid blowback from Washington.
Meanwhile, a government source on Monday said that the Executive Yuan is preparing to allocate funds to produce seven additional indigenous submarines. Submarines are perhaps the ultimate asymmetric weapons platform: Their ability to lurk underwater undetected, sneak up on and attack surface ships makes them a true force multiplier.
Discussions on defense are necessarily conducted behind closed doors; hopefully the situation is better than it appears from the outside. Taiwanese are not after handouts or free equipment from the US, but simply ask for the tools and training they need so that they can defend their nation.
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