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Taipei Times
March 4, 2008
Pg. 1

US Abandons Plan To Let Taiwan Build Anti-Sub Aircraft

By Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Taipei -- The US has dropped plans to allow eight of the 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft the nation plans to buy from the US be assembled in Taiwan, local media reported yesterday.

The Chinese language United Daily News, quoting an unnamed military source, said the US, taking advantage of the scrapping of Taiwan Goal -- an arms firm that would have been in charge of the P-3C deal -- had withdrawn its promise to let eight of the 12 aircraft be assembled in Taiwan.

The source said that under an industrial cooperation agreement signed in December, the US agreed that four of the 12 P-3Cs would be made in the US , while the remaining eight and a flight simulator, would be manufactured in Taiwan .

Other industrial cooperation items included the construction of a P-3C maintenance center in Taiwan and transferring maintenance technology.

But after Taiwan announced the decision to disband the arms firm, the US said that all 12 P-3Cs would be made in the US and that only maintenance technology would be transferred.

The government secretly set up Taiwan Goal in January to conduct arms purchases with foreign countries, but decided to scrap it after the opposition accused members of the Democratic Progressive Party of seeking to make personal gains from the firm.

It was not clear if the government would accept the US change to the industrial cooperation agreement, which leaves the nation short-changed because the US is not lowering the price of the P-3Cs.

The nation is seeking to buy 12 P-3Cs from Lockheed Martin as part of an arms deal approved by US President George W. Bush in 2004. The deal also includes the sale of eight conventional submarines and six batteries of the PAC-3 anti-missile defense system.

In related news, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday appeared unconcerned that a French company was preparing to sell crucial missile and radar technology to Pakistan , a move that could compromise the nation's defense capabilities.

The Associated Press reported last week that the French state arms export agency was preparing to sell MICA air-to-air missiles and Thales RC400 radars to Pakistan for use on its JF-17 fighter jets, a plane being jointly developed with China .

In a letter to the Taipei Times printed today, a defense correspondent with Jane's Information Group, Reuben Johnson, alleges that the technology could fall into Chinese hands and render Taiwan 's Mirage 2000 aircraft useless.

Ministry spokeswoman Chih Yu-lan told the Taipei Times that France signed a confidential contract with Taiwan when it sold Mirage fighters to the country in 1992.

She said that Taiwan's Mirage 2000 fighters would retain their effectiveness because while France might help other countries develop military technology, the confidential technology used in the Mirage 2000 systems would be not be leaked under the contract.

Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief for Defense News magazine, said the news was just "another example of China gaining access to technology through the backdoor."

Additional reporting by Rich Chang and staff writer.

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Taipei Times - archives

Published on Taipei Times

Taiwan keeping up on defense: report

CAPABILITIES: Despite a continuing Chinese military buildup, recent expenditures and arms acquisitions in Taiwan have strengthened its ability to defend itself
By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Wednesday, Mar 05, 2008, Page 1

China's military advantage in the Taiwan Strait continues to grow, but the Legislative Yuan's decision last year to boost defense spending will help right the balance, the Pentagon said in its annual review of China's military released in Washington on Monday.

China has been able to improve its overall military capabilities and the capabilities of its forces facing Taiwan , and continues to build up its array of short-range ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan , the report said.

But the document disagrees sharply with President Chen Shui-bian (ÄÄ¿åÙ¨ ) on the number of those missiles.

US military analysts now say that China has deployed between 990 and 1,070 missiles against Taiwan , up from the 875 to 975 it estimated in last year's report. China is increasing the number of missiles by more than 100 a year, it says.

But that is still far below the more than 1,300 missiles that Chen has cited in statements over the past year.

CONCERNS

In a press briefing accompanying the release of the report, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia , David Sedney, said the missile deployment is "clearly an issue that we're very concerned about and which we have raised very strongly and consistently at high levels over the years with the Chinese."

But he had praise for Taiwan for increasing defense spending in response to the growing Chinese threat.

"We were very pleased this year that Taiwan passed ... in December a 2008 budget which increased rather substantially the amount of money and the percentage of its resources that Taiwan will be spending in its own defense. And we think that's very important," Sedney said.

PROCUREMENT

He said a near-record number of planned US arms sales to Taiwan were announced last year.

Those included 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft and related items worth US$1.96 billion, state-of-the-art upgrades to Taiwan's Patriot 2 anti-missile batteries worth US$939 million, and several hundred AMRAAM and Maverick missiles for use with Taiwan's F-16 fighters worth US$421 million.

The report says the legislative action, the US arms sales commitments and recent steps the Taiwan military has taken to improve its operational capabilities "have, on the whole, reinforced Taiwan 's natural defensive advantages in the face of Beijing 's continuing military buildup."

"We've made a number of notifications ... about the weapons systems Taiwan will be acquiring and we think those will help address the issues of the balance in the Taiwan Straits [sic]," Sedney said.

"But that certainly won't address it completely because China continues both its modernization and its deployment of forces based on Taiwan ... and we continue to not just watch it carefully but to take all appropriate measures that we have to do to be prepared for any eventuality," he said.

Asked about figures in this and last year's reports that show an actual decline in the number of Chinese ground forces deployed in the Taiwan Strait area, as well as a sharp decline in the number of bombers and fighters within range of Taiwan , Sedney downplayed the changes.

"Those are things that can change very rapidly," he said. "The Chinese have a lot of resources throughout the country which they can deploy in the Taiwan Strait area and which they practice deploying on a regular basis."

"So if you're looking at the Taiwan Strait , we wouldn't look just at any one point in time. You know, we do look at what's based there. But it's important to remember there's even a larger number of assets there," he said.

David Helvey, the director of China , Taiwan and Mongolia affairs for the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, who also addressed the briefing, added to Sedney's comments.

"As China 's military forces improve ... you see the retirement of older platforms and airframes. So in some cases, you may see a decrement in total numbers, but you have a higher percentage of much more capable platforms and systems," Helvey said.

In the report, the Pentagon also noted favorably the development of the Hsiung Feng IIE cruise missile, announced during the Han Kuang exercise in April, with a 1,000km range that enables it to reach Hong Kong and Shanghai .

RESPONSE

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday urged the international community to pay close attention to China 's rapid military buildup, saying the Taiwan Strait has become one of the major flashpoints in the world because of Beijing 's military rise.

In its official statement, MAC said the Chinese arms expansion has not only tipped the balance of power in the East Asia , but also threatened the stability in the Pacific region.

Furthermore, Taiwan has reasons to believe that Beijing still views Taiwan as its greatest enemy. Such animosity is evident in the number of missiles, increasing at a rate of 100 missiles per year, pointed at the country.

MAC called on the international community to raise suspicion about the true intention behind Beijing 's military buildup.

Additional reporting by Jenny W. Hsu

gunnut

Wow, if that's not the ultimate lower middle management position, I don't know what is.

__________________
"Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

xinhui

I think it has became a standard policy to have a "mid level" US official to release statements regarding ROC's military affairs. The issue is too sensitive at this point and there is no room for wrong signals.

xinhui

U.S., China Resigned to Taiwan Vote
Both Put Hope in Citizens Rejecting Controversial Measure

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 6, 2008; A17

BEIJING, March 5 -- After months of giving warnings, China and the United States have resigned themselves to Taiwanese plans for a much-disputed referendum on whether the self-ruled island should apply for U.N. membership under the name Taiwan.

Neither Beijing nor Washington has abandoned its strong opposition to the referendum, officials said, because it is seen in both capitals as a backdoor way to emphasize Taiwan's claim to independence, as well as a possible cause of tension in the Taiwan Strait. But faced with President Chen Shui-bian's unshaken determination to hold the vote, U.S. and Chinese officials hope the measure will be defeated by the island's crisis-weary voters.

The controversy over the vote, scheduled to be held in tandem with Taiwan's presidential election March 22, has illustrated anew the degree to which China and the United States have in recent years developed overlapping interests in combating Chen's crusade to push the island toward formal independence. Both governments, each for its own reasons, have put a priority on avoiding conflict and, to that end, postponing a clear legal definition of Taiwan's status in the world.

The Bush administration repeatedly has used strong language to oppose the vote, in public statements as well as private diplomatic contacts. Officials have condemned the referendum as an attempt to inch beyond the long-standing arrangement under which Taiwan functions as an independent country but has a constitution that leaves its status undefined and retains "Republic of China" as its formal name.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated the U.S. opposition during a visit here last week, calling the referendum provocative and a "bad idea." But like other U.S. officials, she stopped short of saying the United States would use its influence to prevent the vote from being held.

"Taiwan is a democratic entity," she said after a meeting with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in which the referendum was a key issue. "Its leaders will decide for themselves."

From the beginning, China has warned that the referendum moves dangerously close to an attempt to unilaterally change the constitutional status quo. China long has insisted the island must return to rule by Beijing, by force if all else fails, and in the meantime must be prevented from declaring formal independence or taking decisive steps in that direction.

In that light, Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office has described Chen's referendum as a reckless gesture. In private, Chinese diplomats have warned their U.S. counterparts that President Hu Jintao's government takes the issue seriously, suggesting the vote may approach the red line for some kind of military response.

But as Taiwan makes preparations to go ahead with the referendum, there have been no signs of military gestures by China. On the contrary, the Taiwan Affairs Office announced a series of measures last week designed to make life easier for the more than 1 million Taiwanese who live and work in mainland China.

The moves demonstrated that Beijing thinks that appearing friendly is more fruitful than threats as a way to diminish the appeal of Chen's independence policies, according to a Taiwan specialist and adviser to the mainland government. Following that line in speeches Tuesday and Wednesday, Hu and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao repeated the country's vow never to allow independence, but avoided specific comment on the March 22 voting, saying only that separatist efforts are "doomed to fail."

The hope in Beijing is no longer that the vote will be called off, the specialist said, but that the measure will fail to gain enough votes for passage. If it succeeds, he added, Beijing could be faced with a difficult decision about whether to react, particularly if Chen decided to use it as a basis for further independence moves during his final months in office.

"We are worried that if the referendum passes, they will use it as a way to push farther down the road to legal independence," the specialist said.

The referendum will have little practical effect, experts pointed out. The United Nations has already rebuffed efforts by Chen's government to gain recognition of the name Taiwan when it takes part in U.N. activities. Taiwan is not a U.N. member; it will not be admitted to the United Nations under any name, the experts said.

But in the struggle over Taiwan, language and symbols have long been important tools. Even though it opposes Chen's referendum, for instance, the opposition Nationalist Party proposed its own referendum measure for March 22, asking whether Taiwan should apply for U.N. membership as the Republic of China or under any name at all.

The Nationalist proposal was a political gesture aimed at Taiwan's voters, a party official acknowledged, and not intended to imply that such a referendum was a good idea. The proposal grew from concerns that people might view the party as insufficiently Taiwanese, harming its presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou, he said. Since then, the party has suggested it may call on voters to boycott any referendum, including its own. A formal announcement on that is due next week.

It is too late to remove the Nationalist measure from the ballot now, and both questions are all but certain to be on the ballot no matter how they are viewed in Washington and Beijing, according to Philip Yang, a political scientist at National Taiwan University.

The proposals are likely to gain little support, he said, because the Taiwanese public has grown weary of Chen's confrontational style and the sense of crisis he has promoted in relations with China. Two unrelated referendum issues that the government initiated in conjunction with Taiwan's Jan. 12 legislative elections failed decisively, he noted, "proving that kind of strategy is not really useful anymore."

The Nationalists and their allies won a decisive victory in the legislative vote, leading to predictions that Ma is headed for a win over the candidate from Chen's Democratic Progressive Party, Frank Hsieh. That would be good news in Beijing and Washington, where officials hope Ma's pragmatic views would lower tensions and smooth the way for better relations across the strait.

Special correspondent Jane Rickards in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

No 'abnormal' activities by China: MND

CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- There are currently no signs of any "abnormal" activities by the Chinese military across the Taiwan Strait, four days ahead of the presidential election, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday.

Lisa Chi said that intelligence indicated that Chinese military fighters, naval battleships, ground troops and artillery were all in regular training operations."There are no signs of abnormal movement," she said.

According to the MND, much more activity involving armament has been observed in China over the past weeks compared with the same period in 2007. However, jet fighter activities in the airspace over the Taiwan Strait had decreased compared to 2007 and Chinese military aircraft had been observed voluntarily flying away from the middle line of the strait, she added.

It is believed that China would most likely want to avoid any conflict with Taiwan in the run up to the presidential election.

Asked about the U.S. carrier "Kitty Hawk" leaving its base in Yokosuka, Japan, earlier in the day, Chi confirmed that it had, but declined to comment on its possible mission and destination and whether it will pass through the Taiwan Strait.

Chi made the remarks at the MND's last press conference before the March 22 presidential election to issue updates on its observation of China's military activities. The MND began holding weekly press conferences of this kind in late February.

According to an MND report issued March 3 on the recent military activities in China, there are more than 1,300 missiles of various kinds, with the capability to reach anywhere in Taiwan, deployed in China's southeastern provinces of Fujian,Zhejiang,Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan.

Missile brigades in those provinces are equipped with a total of around 700 fighters, a combined ground force of 60,000 personnel, and more than 90 naval ships, and they have been observed in regular activities, the report said.

At Tuesday press conference, Chi was asked about the MND's "unexpected" announcement the previous day that Military Intelligence Bureau Director Shen Shih-chih had been transferred to the post of deputy command of the army.

The announcement drew the attention of the local media, as it came just days before the presidential election.

Chi however reiterated that it was nothing more than a "regular adjustment of high-ranking personnel" within the military.

The MND on Monday announced what it called a "normal personnel reshuffle," saying that Ke Kuang-ming, chief of the MND Office of Telecommunication Development, will replace Shen. The move had nothing to do with the presidential election, the ministry stressed.

On Tuesday, Chi explained that Shen had been in the post for nearly two years, and that Ke was eligible to take over the position because he met the professional requirements of the military.

Chi noted that this was the second regular personnel reshuffle since March 1, when the first change, which resulted in some vacancies, was made.

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Taipei Times - archives

Presidential election 2008: 3 days to go: NPA cracks down on organized crime ahead of election
By Rich Chang and Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTERS
Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008, Page 3

A nationwide crackdown on gangs was launched yesterday and a number of alleged gangsters had been arrested by the afternoon, the National Police Agency (NPA) said yesterday.

Seven alleged gang bosses and 31 alleged gang members were arrested as part of the crackdown, the agency said in a statement.

The crackdown came in the last days before the presidential election to ensure better security before, during and after the election on Saturday, it said.

It said officers were also investigating illegal gambling operations nationwide involving betting on the result of the election, which has allegedly attracted a large number of gamblers.

Police said they had arrested seven "bosses" in total, including two alleged members of the notorious Heavenly Way Gang (天道盟). The agency said most of those arrested were gang members who used threats and violence to collect debts from people who were unable to pay.

Some of the arrested gangsters had gained control of night markets or shopping centers and were collecting protection money from stall holders, the agency said, adding that the arrests were made in response to complaints by victims or witnesses.

The agency said the crackdown was launched as the gangs could be planning to commit crimes while most police officers are busy ensuring public security during the presidential election.

The gangsters will be charged with violating the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪條例), the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday that information from its intelligence department showed that the Chinese military had not carried out any unusual activities ahead of Saturday's election, but that minor challenges such as propaganda efforts remained a possibility.

"[The Chinese military] has maintained its regular training and activities. The [People's Liberation Army] Air Force has even decreased its number of sorties along coastal areas recently," ministry spokeswoman Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) said.

Chi made the comments yesterday morning during a special press conference held by the ministry to brief reporters on PLA activities in the lead-up to the election.

She said the PLA, perhaps on intentionally, had recently relocated major forces away from coastal provinces. But high-ranking leaders and government officials have not stopped criticizing Taiwan whenever they meet foreign allies, she said.

"It is possible that the [PLA] has purposely withdrawn its forces to reduce the possibility of a military escalation," Chi said.