Taiwanese officials have reportedly reached out to the US to discuss the possibility of expediting the delivery of F-16 jets to Taiwan, CNN said on Friday.
While the “Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific Command has watched with increasing concern as China has rapidly modernized its military and improved its training with an eye to Taiwan,” the US Department of State is wary of taking a more aggressive stance against China, a CNN report said.
US President Joe Biden’s “administration has discussed with Taiwanese officials the possibility of expediting the delivery of American-made F-16s to Taiwan, according to Taiwanese and US officials familiar with the talks,” the report said.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, Bloomberg
“The sale of the 22 fighter jets was approved in 2019, but Taiwan hopes to speed up the actual delivery time — which normally can take up to 10 years — particularly in light of the recent Chinese provocations,” it said.
A total of 150 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military aircraft entered the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone from Oct. 1 to Oct. 5, Ministry of National Defense data showed.
By comparison, the PLA deployed 380 military aircraft near Taiwan over the whole of last year.
Separately, a source said that the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on Wednesday held a meeting with Democratic Progressive Party legislators Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) and Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國); New Power Party Chairwoman and Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華); Michael Schiffer, senior adviser and counselor on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; and state department officials.
In the meeting, US officials said that legislators’ suggestion about expediting the delivery of arms that had already been purchased could be looked into, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Early delivery of arms that had already been bought would antagonize Beijing less and would not escalate tension in the region, the source said, adding that such a move would convey the US’ concern regarding Beijing’s threatening attitude toward Taiwan.
It would send a clear signal to Beijing while keeping things under control, they added.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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