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US Said to Put Off Planned F-16 Sale to Taiwan
(Source: compiled by defense-aerospace.com; posted Sept. 17, 2007)
PARIS --- The U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, a US business lobby group, has accused the Bush administration of jeopardizing Taiwan ’s security by indefinitely putting off the pending sale of 66 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D fighters. The sale is valued at $4.9 billion.
The group says that the US is delaying the sale, which was due to pass a contractual milestone next month, to show its displeasure with the policies of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian.
On June 15, Taiwan 's parliament passed the 2007 defense budget which includes initial funds for the deal. However, these funds will lapse unless Taiwan obtains formal notice of the aircraft’s price and availability by Oct. 31, Chen told reporters during a video news conference on Friday.
In a move clearly intended to delay the sale, the US has told Taiwan to delay seeking price and availability data on the F-16s until further notice, the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council said, presumably until Chen leaves office after the next presidential election in March 2008. (ends)
America’s Relationship with Taiwan Slips Further Into Malaise (excerpt)
(Source: U.S.-Taiwan Business Council; dated Sept. 13, 2007)
(Edited for relevance)
This past June, Taiwan passed a long-delayed defense budget that included funds for procuring additional F-16s, contingent upon the U.S. providing purchasing data by October 31, 2007.
Although this would seem a straightforward deal, since F-16s are a part of Taiwan’s existing arsenal and do not constitute a new capability, the U.S. has informed Taiwan that it should not submit a Letter of Request - the critical first step in the arms sale process - until further notice, thereby leaving this pressing matter in limbo. This is an unprecedented action in any bilateral U.S. security relationship.
A short-term need to censure Taiwan , or more specifically its president, should never impact America ’s long-term commitment to maintaining the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait . China ’s massive force modernization and transformation is possibly the most disruptive dynamic in the status quo at this time.
Taiwan presidents will come and go, but the U.S. will continue to need a strong and stable underlying relationship with Taiwan , a relationship founded on a number of essential and consistent commitments. If [Taiwanese President] Chen’s statements and actions regarding UN membership are viewed as destabilizing, how does delaying consideration of the F-16s, itself a destabilizing act, constitute an appropriate response? It’s tantamount to cutting off our nose to spite our face.
The Bush Administration’s decision to focus its criticism on President Chen and to personalize their criticism is surely an attempt to balance displeasure - over the UN application issue and the accompanying referendum - with the need to continue the relationship with Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That relationship will be crucial in the event that the DPP candidate Frank Hsieh wins the presidential elections next March.
However, there is no guarantee that a President Hsieh - or indeed a President Ma Ying-jeou, the opposition KMT’s candidate - will represent a better custodian of “the status quo as America wants to see it”.
Without a commitment to a number of basic principles – such as maintaining the balance of power by fulfilling American defense commitments to Taiwan, improved high-level dialogue between America and Taiwan, and improved communications between Taiwan and China – the triangular relationship between China, Taiwan and America will continue to deteriorate well past the end of Chen Shui-bian’s presidency.
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