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Taiwan to receive US
arms package
MIXED REACTION: While some saw the US’ decision
to upgrade the F-16A/Bs as significant, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said
it was ‘woefully insufficient’
By William Lowther / Staff Reporter in Washington
Two F-16A/Bs are pictured near
the air force base in Hualien County on July 16. The US on Wednesday notified
Congress of a US$5.3 billion upgrade package for Taiwan’s 145 F-16 aircraft.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
Ending months of suspense, the White House
on Wednesday officially notified the US Congress of a US$5.85 billion package of
arms that it proposes to sell to Taiwan.
As widely expected, the package offered by the administration of US President
Barack Obama did not contain the 66 F-16C/D aircraft Taipei was seeking, and
centered instead on upgrading its existing fleet of aging F-16A/Bs.
The only surprise was the extent of the upgrade, which includes Joint Direct
Attack Munitions (JDAM) and a large array of new technology and weaponry.
Among the items cleared for release are 176 Active Electronically Scanned Array
(AESA) radar, 176 Embedded Global Positioning System Inertial Navigation
Systems, 176 ALQ-213 Electronic Warfare Management systems, 128 Joint Helmet
Mounted Cueing Systems, 140 AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, 16 GBU-31V1 JDAM kits,
80 GBU-38 JDAM kits, as well as engineering, and a design study on replacing
existing F100-PW-220 engines with F100-PW-229 engines.
“It would have been much, much, better if Obama had provided brand-new
airplanes,” national security analyst and Global Security think tank director
John Pike told the Taipei Times.
“New F-16C/Ds would have made the Chinese think twice,” he said. “What we know
now, is that any talk about maintaining a military balance across the Taiwan
Strait is preposterous. Taiwan has not added a single new combat aircraft to its
fleet this century.”
“You don’t have to be a panda-basher to see that this package is just not right.
All the new kit is impressive, but it will be going on old airplanes with
elderly design. It will improve the planes substantially, but it’s not just
quality that Taiwan needs, it’s quantity,” Pike said.
“What Obama is saying with this package is that military balance across the
Strait doesn’t matter any more because there is not going to be a war. Taiwan
has seen the bright lights of China and is heading to join them,” he added.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican who chairs the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, said: “The upgrade of older model F-16s is a modest step in
the right direction, but woefully insufficient to meet Taiwan’s increasingly
urgent requirements.”
“This deal has Beijing’s fingerprints all over it,” she said.
The last remark was a reference to widespread speculation on Capitol Hill that
Obama had bowed to pressure from Beijing in not agreeing to sell the F-16C/Ds.
Nevertheless, the administration put on a bright face.
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell, speaking from New
York where he was with Obama at the UN General Assembly, said the package
included a retrofit for Taiwan’s 145 F-16A/B aircraft, including radars, weapons
and structural upgrades, for a total of US$5.3 billion.
He said that it also included a five-year extension of F-16 pilot training in
the US for US$500 million and aircraft spare parts to sustain Taiwan’s F-16s,
its existing fleet of F-5s and C-130 cargo planes for about US$52 million.
“It is our strong view that these sales will make a significant contribution to
Taiwan’s air defense capabilities because it is upgrading the backbone of
Taiwan’s air force,” Campbell said.
“This retrofit program will provide a substantial increase to the survivability,
reliability and the overall combat capabilities of Taiwan’s 145 F-16A/B fighter
aircraft. It will help ensure that Taiwan maintains the capability to protect
its air space in both peacetime and during any crisis,” he said.
“We firmly believe that our arms sales to Taiwan contribute to the maintenance
of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he added.
Reflecting the Obama administration’s approval of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)
pro-China policies, Campbell said there had been substantial progress in
dialogue and diplomacy across the Taiwan Strait.
“We support that process, we encourage it and we want it to go forward, and we
think that these particular steps allow Taiwan to engage in both diplomacy and
in security in the knowledge of a strong relationship with the US,” Campbell
said.
Daniel Russel, senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security
Council — standing shoulder to shoulder with Campbell — said: “The preservation
of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is fundamentally and profoundly
in the strategic interests of the US and our allies and partners.”
“Progress in cross-strait ties over the past few years, dialogue and diplomacy,
has been a major contributor to that stability,” he said.
Reminded that there are moves in Congress to force Obama to sell the F-16C/Ds,
Campbell said: “No decisions have been made on selling new F-16C/D aircraft. It
is still under consideration and we are aware of Taiwan’s request to the US
government. The US and Taiwan will continue to examine the F-16C/D issue in the
context of our discussions about Taiwan’s overall defense needs.”
“We believe that the approach we have taken is prudent and careful and we will
continue along these lines,” he added.
Both Campbell and Russel denied that the US was in any way trying to interfere
in the Taiwanese presidential election.
However, last week, after a Washington visit by Democratic Progressive Party
Chaiperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), a senior administration official acting under a
cloak of anonymity called the Financial Times to say that Washington had doubts
about the DPP presidential candidate’s ability to maintain good cross-strait
relations.
The strong indication was that Obama was in favor of Ma’s re-election and wanted
to support him.
Asked directly about the telephone call by the senior US official, who is
believed to have been with the National Security Council, to the Financial
Times, Russel said: “To put it in a nutshell, there is no interference in
Taiwan’s election. The US strongly supports Taiwan’s democracy. We respect the
will of the voters to choose their own leaders.”
“We will work within the context of our official relationship with whoever the
Taiwanese people elect,” Russel said. “Many of us had substantive discussions
with Madame Tsai when she was in Washington. Although we don’t talk publicly
about the content of those meetings, she was afforded a very respectful set of
senior meetings and there was a full exchange of views.”
“What has really changed since the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act is the
coming of democracy to Taiwan,” Campbell said.
Additional Reporting By Staff Writer
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