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Transfer of US arms
to Taipei slow
HE SAID, SHE SAID: A US commission said budget
constraints might have caused the delay, an MND official said US production
delays were the real reason
Reuters, Washington
The transfer of US arms to Taiwan is moving at a snail’s pace, at least for
several major weapons systems, a draft report to the US Congress showed.
The annual report for this year, under review by the US-China Economic and
Security Review Commission, said only four of 60 Black Hawk utility helicopters,
for instance, were on order as of the middle of last month, even though the
administration of US President Barack Obama notified lawmakers of their planned
sale to Taipei in January last year.
Moreover, it said Taiwan had “obligated,” or committed to, only 9 percent of a
projected US$2.5 billion price tag for 30 Apache attack helicopters, a deal that
former US president George W. Bush presented to Congress in October 2008.
The lag between the formal notification of a proposed US arms sale, a step
required by law, and contracting for and delivery of hardware can raise
questions about the lack of urgency on the US or Taiwan side, despite what both
describe as China’s growing military edge over Taiwan.
The report shines light on the normally murky matter of an arms sale’s status
after a statutory 30-day congressional review period. A copy of the draft was
obtained by Reuters before the scheduled Nov. 16 delivery of a final version to
Congress. The 12-member bipartisan commission was created by Congress in 2000 to
study the national security implications of US-China trade.
Taiwan’s defense budget reached a five-year low of US$9.2 billion this year, or
about 2.2 percent of GDP, the report said. The US spends roughly twice that
proportion on its military.
Taiwan signed a government-to-government agreement in 2009 for the Apache
helicopters, according to an Oct. 21 update of a report on Taiwan arms sales by
the US Congressional Research Service, citing Defense News, a trade publication.
Delivery of those helicopters is not expected to start until at least 2014, the
commission’s draft said in a footnote, or five years after the framework
agreement was signed.
The Black Hawk helicopters are built by United Technologies Corp’s Sikorsky
unit, and the Apaches by Boeing Co. Both companies referred questions about the
status of Taiwan’s orders to the US government, which acts as a middleman in
foreign military sales.
China describes US arms sales to Taiwan as interference in its internal affairs.
Beijing suspended military-to-military ties with the US last year in retaliation
for Obama’s notification of five major arms sales to Taiwan, with a total
potential value of US$6.4 billion, including the 60 Black Hawks.
The US-China commission’s draft report said budgetary constraints could be
hampering Taiwan’s progress toward developing indigenous defense capabilities.
It also cited a news account quoting Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense (MND)
spokesperson David Lo (羅紹和) as blaming US production delays, not funding
shortfalls in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s unofficial embassy in Washington, the Taipei Economic and Cultural
Representative Office, declined to comment on the matter.
The report drew attention to the uncertain status of 114 Patriot PAC-3 missiles,
a potential US$2.8 billion deal also presented to lawmakers by Obama in January
last year that includes three AN/MSQ-65 radar sets and related gear. Lockheed
Martin Corp and Raytheon Co are the prime contractors.
It was not immediately clear how many of the missiles had been placed on order
for Taiwan so far. At least some were included in an Army purchase of 226 in
December last year that also covered the United Arab Emirates, a US Army
Contracting Command notice showed.
Lockheed had no production or delivery delays to any of its missile customers,
company spokeswoman Cheryl Amerine said, adding that the usual lag from contract
award to first delivery was 16 months.
None of the three Patriot--related radar sets cited in the notification to
Congress in January last year has yet been placed on order.
Raytheon has been meeting or beating production and delivery goals on all
existing Patriot contracts, company spokesman Jonathan Kasle said.
The Obama administration notified Congress in September of three planned arms
sales to Taiwan with a potential value of about US$5.9 billion, including
upgrades for Taiwan’s current batch of 145 F-16A/B fighters.
The commission’s draft report recommends Congress enact legislation requiring
the administration to accept a formal Taiwanese request for 66 new Lockheed
Martin F-16 C/D aircraft, a potential US$8.2 billion deal.
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