Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter Gollevainen
- Start date
Pointblank
Senior Member
I always argued that the Chinese do not have to invade Taiwan in case of war; they can instead use Taiwan's ambiguous legal status to their advantage and declare a port closure of the island, then blockade the island using the Navy and Air Force under a 'quarantine'. From an international legal standpoint, this is not a declaration of war, and is perfectly legitimate.
Mr T
Senior Member
International legal standpoints are interesting theory. But I don't think it would make a difference. Even if China declared war on Taiwan, it wouldn't matter if the most any other country did was make diplomatic protests.
Equally even if China tries to claim it is acting legally, if a country like the US or Japan wanted to take some form of military action it would do so anyway.
Soviet General
New Member
True comrad but remember the Cuban missile crissis where the Americans Blokaded Cuba bc my Soviet comrads had WMDs based thier. The Americans insested to the point that WWIII was over the horizon, but our leaders made a secreat(not anymore)deal with President JFK to remove the WMDs from Turkey and we will remove ours from Cuba.:china:
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Economically, Taiwan is under separate customs, and everyone knows that truly in the world China does not have jurisdication over Taiwan. And Taiwan is only claimed by the PRC. A quarantine is not legitimate, and actually destabilizes the regional area. You'll have Japan worried and the US sending some aircraft carriers to stabilize the area. I highly doubt it is legitimate. China blockading a small country, is going to have heaps of human rights groups hot on China's tail. Literally, if it was like the Cuba missile crisis Taiwan would be starved of many things. You'd not only have other countries angry (because Taiwan isn't going to kill anyone, only attempting to go independent? [scenario]) you're also going to piss off 23 million people not being able to live a normal life, and under the threat of communist rule.
I Agree with Mr T, the US or Japan would conduct some form military action without talking to China. Don't forget there are still lots of American investment and Japanese investment in Taiwan not to mention historical significance to the Japanese especially because of their previous occupation.
I Agree with Mr T, the US or Japan would conduct some form military action without talking to China. Don't forget there are still lots of American investment and Japanese investment in Taiwan not to mention historical significance to the Japanese especially because of their previous occupation.
Soviet General
New Member
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Gentelmen, This is the Taiwan Military News thred. Not a history thread or an PRC Vs. ROC thread etc..etc... Post news stories about the ROC military , Feel free to discuss those articles with out going off topic or delving into forbidden territories. I know I've made myself clear....Otherwise:nono::nono:..I will close this thread.
bd popeye Super Moderator and the American Civil War
bd popeye Super Moderator and the American Civil War
Strong military still necessary: Ma
By James Donald, Special to The China Post with agencies
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- President Ma Ying-jeou emphasized to military graduates yesterday a strong armed forces will be needed in negotiating future cross-strait relations with mainland China, but was chastised by a DPP law maker for reciting Taiwan's Armed Forces Directives.
Ma presided over the ceremony that would fully commission 669 graduating cadets from Taiwan's five military academies in Fengshan, Kaohsiung County. Noting that "Taiwan should not depend on others for its own national defense," Ma said proper funding should be legislated and appropriated to beef up the country's combat readiness and demonstrate its determination to defend itself. "We may discuss the signing of a peace accord with Beijing in the future, but any bilateral negotiation must be based on a foundation of strength," he said.
"We cannot start from weakness, we must commence with strength," he stressed.
Strength of the military
China is still aiming more than 1,000 missiles at Taiwan, Ma said, but at the same time Taiwan's two-way trade with China amounted to US$130 billion last year, and China and Hong Kong constitute Taiwan's largest export market.
Ma said some cadets may feel confused over the current cross-strait situation, wondering whether Taiwan and China are friends or enemies and whether China represents an opportunity or threat to Taiwan.
Ma said in light of the changes in cross-strait relations over the past two decades, he thinks China represents both an opportunity and a threat to Taiwan.
Ma led the newly-graduated cadets in reciting the Republic of China Armed Forces Directives. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) argued the revival of the practice by the new KMT government is "a part of the spiritual education of the servicemen." DPP lawmaker Chai Trong-rong denounced the practice, however, stating that it was a "revival of the legacy of authoritarian rule" experienced under the pre-democratic era of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
Strength of character
The directives are chanted based on ROC military protocol with the aim of molding a serviceman's character and fortifying his or her spirit, MND spokeswoman Lisa Chi noted.
The practice had been suspended since 2003, and Wednesday marked the first time Ma led servicemen in his capacity as commander-in-chief in reciting the directives, which touch on discipline, loyalty and obedience. Defense Minister Chen Chao-min approved the resumption of the practice.
One passage in the directives' preface -- which is not recited as part of the 10 directives -- illustrates that the directives are out of date, Chai said. It reads: "We Chinese people, who have been building our country to today, have existed for 5,000 years, and a 400 million-strong peaceful and outstanding people has converged on a land of more than 11 million square kilometers."
The passages was spoken by the late President Chiang Kai-shek in 1936, Chai said, arguing that it is anachronistic to go back to reciting directives established 72 years ago.
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Taiwan in range of Chinese surface-to-air missiles: report
EXTENDED REACH: Local media reported that newly deployed missiles have a range of more than 200km, surpassing the 80km and 120km range of older ones
By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jul 03, 2008, Page 1
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accused China yesterday of deploying more advanced missiles along its coast before the inauguration of cross-strait charter flights.
The Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday that China recently deployed Russian-made S-300PMU surface-to-air missiles to replace older models of the same missile at its air defense bases along the southern coast.
The new S-300PMUs have a range of more than 200km, surpassing the 80km and 120km range of the older models, the report said.
It said the missiles had been deployed at bases in Fujian Province’s Xiamen (廈門), Shantou (汕頭) and Longtian (龍田) cities.
The newspaper said the missiles’ range put Taiwanese air space within their ambit, which would put tremendous pressure on the Taiwanese Air Force.
DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) told a press conference at the legislature yesterday that the developments showed that while Beijing engages in negotiations with Taiwan, it is still preparing for military conflict.
He said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung’s (吳伯雄) remark that China was unlikely to launch a missile attack against Taiwan was naive.
China has not abandoned its ambition of annexing the country, he said.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said that while China continued to upgrade its weapons systems, KMT legislators blocked the country’s weapon purchase programs, leaving Taiwan unable to procure advanced weapons.
The newspaper said that in addition to deploying the S-300PMUs, China had recently built a new ballistic missile base on its southern coast.
It said that China had deployed more advanced Dong Feng-15A ballistic missiles to replace the Dong Feng-15s at bases in Jiangxi’s Leping City (樂平).
The Ministry of National Defense declined to comment on the report yesterday.
Approached by reporters at the ROC Military Academy in Fengshan, Kaohsiung County, yesterday morning, ministry spokeswoman Major General Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) also declined to comment.
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Sources reinforce US role in arms sales
CONFUSION: US congressional sources said that a deputy defense official’s testimony blaming the delay on Taiwan was a mistake, as Washington had initiated the freeze
By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER , WASHINGTON
Thursday, Jul 03, 2008, Page 3
The decision to freeze the processing of a US$12 billion package of weapons sales to Taiwan appears to be a product of US President George W. Bush’s desire not to offend China at a critical time and, perhaps, a general weariness with cross-strait issues as Bush’s term comes to an end, several sources close to the matter said.
It is still not confirmed that the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) asked for the delay, since there has been no official confirmation or explanation of the delay from the Bush government and various participants have also given differing explanations of the situation.
There was early speculation that Taiwan asked for the freeze to aid cross-strait reconciliation to proceed unhampered. This was bolstered by the demand by a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman that the US end all arms sales to Taiwan, and by reports that both Ma and National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) urged visiting US officials to impose the freeze.
But while Ma and Su brought up the timing of the sales in their talks, they apparently did not specifically ask for a delay, one source said.
US Assistant Secretary of Defense James Shinn added to the confusion in his testimony before Congress last month, implying that Taipei had asked for the freeze and that it had not been initiated by the US.
But Shinn may have been mistaken.
Taiwan’s Representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) this week denied that Taipei had asked for a freeze. And congressional sources told the Taipei Times they had been told by administration officials that the freeze was real and was initiated by Washington.
Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan business council, which represents US defense contractors among others, has claimed that the US decision to freeze sales dates back to late last year during the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration.
‘HANGOVER’
Hammond-Chambers characterizes the freeze as “a hangover from the Chen Shui-bian administration.”
“The Bush administration feels, why should we do anything [for Taiwan] after all that Chen Shui-bian put us through. The fact that Ma Ying-jeou is president is absolutely incidental to them,” he said.
Underscoring the contention that the freeze is long term is the fact that the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the unit that handles foreign arms sales, has not notified Congress of a single proposed sale to Taiwan this year.
In contrast, last year the agency sent more than US$3.7 billion in notifications, including 12 P-3C aircraft, Patriot-2 anti-missile upgrades and several major batches of missiles. That was the second highest annual total ever — behind only 1992, when then president George H.W. Bush sold Taiwan 150 F-16 fighters for US$5.8 billion, with the full-year total reaching US$7.7 billion.
The likely reason for the continued freeze, Washington observers say, is that Bush is anxious to make sure his trip to Beijing in August for the opening of the Olympic Games will not be affected by any arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing has resolutely opposed, and that China continues to cooperate in the North Korean nuclear disarmament talks.
US State Department officials linked the freeze to Taiwanese politics in a meeting with congressional staffers in early May, saying they would hold back on arms sales to “wait and see” what president-elect Ma Ying-jeou would say in his inauguration address and afterward.
One congressional attendee at the meeting with long experience in dealing with Taiwan affairs said that Taiwan did not ask for a delay.
Meanwhile, Yuan on Monday flatly denied that the Ma government had asked for a delay, citing Ma’s statements in Taipei that he was committed to a bigger arms budget and purchases of items that had been included in press reports of the sales delay.
“I can tell you very clearly the instructions [Ma] gave to me and the message he gave to the US government. He never said: ‘Delay the package,’” Yuan told the Taipei Times, after a luncheon meeting with Taiwan’s press corps, the first since the US accepted his appointment as the representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.
Ma’s message was “very clear,” Yuan said.
First, he supports a defense budget at 3 percent of GDP; and second, “there is a continuity of the government,” Yuan said. “Whatever we passed, those items we passed in June and December of last year in the Legislative Yuan, those items we need immediately.”
INTERNAL PROBLEM
Any delay on the US side is “an internal problem ... and all we can do is to officially tell the US government” that it shouldn’t delay those items, Yuan said.
The freeze affects eight large weapons systems, including 30 Apache Longbow attack helicopters, 60 Black Hawk helicopters, eight diesel electric submarines, four PAC-3 air defense missile batteries and 66 F-16 fighter aircraft.
Even before Ma took over, the State Department had decided to delay the arms sales, said a source who attended a meeting between Capital Hill staffers and department officials in early May, which included State Department Taiwan desk officials.
“On arms sales,” a Washington staffer quoted a department official as saying: “We must wait and see, because the Ma administration may take a new approach to the mainland [sic], and there’s likely to be a thaw and they might really not want to go forward” with the sales.
Notwithstanding, “the real reason is Bush is going to the Olympics and China is being so helpful on North Korea, they don’t want to rock the boat, and they may be willing to kick this can down the road to the next president, which is not being received with much delight by the McCain or Obama campaigns,” the source said, referring to the presumptive presidential candidates, Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Republican Senator John McCain.
The issue was clouded last week when Shinn testified at the House Armed Services Committee and, in answer to a question about the delay, said: “I don’t believe that we made a decision to put things in abeyance. This was driven, as far as I understand, by Taiwanese domestic politics.”
That statement appeared to confirm reports in the Taiwanese press and sources in Washington that the Ma administration urged Washington to freeze the sales while Ma pursued cross-strait talks.
But, perhaps not.
“I don’t believe Mr Shinn was part of the decision-making process on the arms sales freeze,” said Hammond-Chambers, who said the issue was one which Shinn “is not aware of, a policy which he is not familiar with, nor is he participating in.”
As a result, Shinn was actually talking about the 2003 to 2007 arms stalemate in the Legislative Yuan, he said.
Asked by the Taipei Times about the issue, the Pentagon said only that his statements “stand on their own.” It has not responded to other queries.
Shinn was answering a question from Connecticut Representative Joe Courtney, whose district includes the Groton, Connecticut, shipyard of General Dynamics’ Electric Boat division.
That facility would be in a prime position for the contract to build the eight diesel-electric submarines Bush offered in April 2001, but which have been held up since then.
While committee staffers were confused by Shinn’s answer, they concluded that he was talking about the current freeze because “that is consistent with what we have been hearing” from administration officials — that the US has not imposed a freeze.
NO RESPONSE
They say that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has not yet responded to a letter sent to her on June 17 from Courtney and Representative James Langevin asking for an explanation of the freeze, focusing on the fate of the submarines.
The letter asked for a detailed explanation of the status of the submarine deal, the timeline for completion of the review and when Congress will be notified.
Noting that the Legislative Yuan approved initial funding for the subs last year, the lawmakers said that in January, Taiwan submitted a letter of request to start the sales process on the subs. The next step in the process, they wrote, is a 30-day notification of Congress.
“There is some speculation that the pause in Congressional notifications may extend through the end of the summer or even through the end of the current administration and into the next,” the congressmen wrote.
“As you are well aware, the longer it takes to begin the congressional notification process on the submarine program, the harder it will be to complete this next crucial step before the end of the current Congress,” which officially ends in January, they said.
By James Donald, Special to The China Post with agencies
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- President Ma Ying-jeou emphasized to military graduates yesterday a strong armed forces will be needed in negotiating future cross-strait relations with mainland China, but was chastised by a DPP law maker for reciting Taiwan's Armed Forces Directives.
Ma presided over the ceremony that would fully commission 669 graduating cadets from Taiwan's five military academies in Fengshan, Kaohsiung County. Noting that "Taiwan should not depend on others for its own national defense," Ma said proper funding should be legislated and appropriated to beef up the country's combat readiness and demonstrate its determination to defend itself. "We may discuss the signing of a peace accord with Beijing in the future, but any bilateral negotiation must be based on a foundation of strength," he said.
"We cannot start from weakness, we must commence with strength," he stressed.
Strength of the military
China is still aiming more than 1,000 missiles at Taiwan, Ma said, but at the same time Taiwan's two-way trade with China amounted to US$130 billion last year, and China and Hong Kong constitute Taiwan's largest export market.
Ma said some cadets may feel confused over the current cross-strait situation, wondering whether Taiwan and China are friends or enemies and whether China represents an opportunity or threat to Taiwan.
Ma said in light of the changes in cross-strait relations over the past two decades, he thinks China represents both an opportunity and a threat to Taiwan.
Ma led the newly-graduated cadets in reciting the Republic of China Armed Forces Directives. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) argued the revival of the practice by the new KMT government is "a part of the spiritual education of the servicemen." DPP lawmaker Chai Trong-rong denounced the practice, however, stating that it was a "revival of the legacy of authoritarian rule" experienced under the pre-democratic era of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
Strength of character
The directives are chanted based on ROC military protocol with the aim of molding a serviceman's character and fortifying his or her spirit, MND spokeswoman Lisa Chi noted.
The practice had been suspended since 2003, and Wednesday marked the first time Ma led servicemen in his capacity as commander-in-chief in reciting the directives, which touch on discipline, loyalty and obedience. Defense Minister Chen Chao-min approved the resumption of the practice.
One passage in the directives' preface -- which is not recited as part of the 10 directives -- illustrates that the directives are out of date, Chai said. It reads: "We Chinese people, who have been building our country to today, have existed for 5,000 years, and a 400 million-strong peaceful and outstanding people has converged on a land of more than 11 million square kilometers."
The passages was spoken by the late President Chiang Kai-shek in 1936, Chai said, arguing that it is anachronistic to go back to reciting directives established 72 years ago.
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Taiwan in range of Chinese surface-to-air missiles: report
EXTENDED REACH: Local media reported that newly deployed missiles have a range of more than 200km, surpassing the 80km and 120km range of older ones
By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jul 03, 2008, Page 1
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accused China yesterday of deploying more advanced missiles along its coast before the inauguration of cross-strait charter flights.
The Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday that China recently deployed Russian-made S-300PMU surface-to-air missiles to replace older models of the same missile at its air defense bases along the southern coast.
The new S-300PMUs have a range of more than 200km, surpassing the 80km and 120km range of the older models, the report said.
It said the missiles had been deployed at bases in Fujian Province’s Xiamen (廈門), Shantou (汕頭) and Longtian (龍田) cities.
The newspaper said the missiles’ range put Taiwanese air space within their ambit, which would put tremendous pressure on the Taiwanese Air Force.
DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) told a press conference at the legislature yesterday that the developments showed that while Beijing engages in negotiations with Taiwan, it is still preparing for military conflict.
He said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung’s (吳伯雄) remark that China was unlikely to launch a missile attack against Taiwan was naive.
China has not abandoned its ambition of annexing the country, he said.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said that while China continued to upgrade its weapons systems, KMT legislators blocked the country’s weapon purchase programs, leaving Taiwan unable to procure advanced weapons.
The newspaper said that in addition to deploying the S-300PMUs, China had recently built a new ballistic missile base on its southern coast.
It said that China had deployed more advanced Dong Feng-15A ballistic missiles to replace the Dong Feng-15s at bases in Jiangxi’s Leping City (樂平).
The Ministry of National Defense declined to comment on the report yesterday.
Approached by reporters at the ROC Military Academy in Fengshan, Kaohsiung County, yesterday morning, ministry spokeswoman Major General Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) also declined to comment.
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Sources reinforce US role in arms sales
CONFUSION: US congressional sources said that a deputy defense official’s testimony blaming the delay on Taiwan was a mistake, as Washington had initiated the freeze
By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER , WASHINGTON
Thursday, Jul 03, 2008, Page 3
The decision to freeze the processing of a US$12 billion package of weapons sales to Taiwan appears to be a product of US President George W. Bush’s desire not to offend China at a critical time and, perhaps, a general weariness with cross-strait issues as Bush’s term comes to an end, several sources close to the matter said.
It is still not confirmed that the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) asked for the delay, since there has been no official confirmation or explanation of the delay from the Bush government and various participants have also given differing explanations of the situation.
There was early speculation that Taiwan asked for the freeze to aid cross-strait reconciliation to proceed unhampered. This was bolstered by the demand by a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman that the US end all arms sales to Taiwan, and by reports that both Ma and National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) urged visiting US officials to impose the freeze.
But while Ma and Su brought up the timing of the sales in their talks, they apparently did not specifically ask for a delay, one source said.
US Assistant Secretary of Defense James Shinn added to the confusion in his testimony before Congress last month, implying that Taipei had asked for the freeze and that it had not been initiated by the US.
But Shinn may have been mistaken.
Taiwan’s Representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) this week denied that Taipei had asked for a freeze. And congressional sources told the Taipei Times they had been told by administration officials that the freeze was real and was initiated by Washington.
Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan business council, which represents US defense contractors among others, has claimed that the US decision to freeze sales dates back to late last year during the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration.
‘HANGOVER’
Hammond-Chambers characterizes the freeze as “a hangover from the Chen Shui-bian administration.”
“The Bush administration feels, why should we do anything [for Taiwan] after all that Chen Shui-bian put us through. The fact that Ma Ying-jeou is president is absolutely incidental to them,” he said.
Underscoring the contention that the freeze is long term is the fact that the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the unit that handles foreign arms sales, has not notified Congress of a single proposed sale to Taiwan this year.
In contrast, last year the agency sent more than US$3.7 billion in notifications, including 12 P-3C aircraft, Patriot-2 anti-missile upgrades and several major batches of missiles. That was the second highest annual total ever — behind only 1992, when then president George H.W. Bush sold Taiwan 150 F-16 fighters for US$5.8 billion, with the full-year total reaching US$7.7 billion.
The likely reason for the continued freeze, Washington observers say, is that Bush is anxious to make sure his trip to Beijing in August for the opening of the Olympic Games will not be affected by any arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing has resolutely opposed, and that China continues to cooperate in the North Korean nuclear disarmament talks.
US State Department officials linked the freeze to Taiwanese politics in a meeting with congressional staffers in early May, saying they would hold back on arms sales to “wait and see” what president-elect Ma Ying-jeou would say in his inauguration address and afterward.
One congressional attendee at the meeting with long experience in dealing with Taiwan affairs said that Taiwan did not ask for a delay.
Meanwhile, Yuan on Monday flatly denied that the Ma government had asked for a delay, citing Ma’s statements in Taipei that he was committed to a bigger arms budget and purchases of items that had been included in press reports of the sales delay.
“I can tell you very clearly the instructions [Ma] gave to me and the message he gave to the US government. He never said: ‘Delay the package,’” Yuan told the Taipei Times, after a luncheon meeting with Taiwan’s press corps, the first since the US accepted his appointment as the representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.
Ma’s message was “very clear,” Yuan said.
First, he supports a defense budget at 3 percent of GDP; and second, “there is a continuity of the government,” Yuan said. “Whatever we passed, those items we passed in June and December of last year in the Legislative Yuan, those items we need immediately.”
INTERNAL PROBLEM
Any delay on the US side is “an internal problem ... and all we can do is to officially tell the US government” that it shouldn’t delay those items, Yuan said.
The freeze affects eight large weapons systems, including 30 Apache Longbow attack helicopters, 60 Black Hawk helicopters, eight diesel electric submarines, four PAC-3 air defense missile batteries and 66 F-16 fighter aircraft.
Even before Ma took over, the State Department had decided to delay the arms sales, said a source who attended a meeting between Capital Hill staffers and department officials in early May, which included State Department Taiwan desk officials.
“On arms sales,” a Washington staffer quoted a department official as saying: “We must wait and see, because the Ma administration may take a new approach to the mainland [sic], and there’s likely to be a thaw and they might really not want to go forward” with the sales.
Notwithstanding, “the real reason is Bush is going to the Olympics and China is being so helpful on North Korea, they don’t want to rock the boat, and they may be willing to kick this can down the road to the next president, which is not being received with much delight by the McCain or Obama campaigns,” the source said, referring to the presumptive presidential candidates, Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Republican Senator John McCain.
The issue was clouded last week when Shinn testified at the House Armed Services Committee and, in answer to a question about the delay, said: “I don’t believe that we made a decision to put things in abeyance. This was driven, as far as I understand, by Taiwanese domestic politics.”
That statement appeared to confirm reports in the Taiwanese press and sources in Washington that the Ma administration urged Washington to freeze the sales while Ma pursued cross-strait talks.
But, perhaps not.
“I don’t believe Mr Shinn was part of the decision-making process on the arms sales freeze,” said Hammond-Chambers, who said the issue was one which Shinn “is not aware of, a policy which he is not familiar with, nor is he participating in.”
As a result, Shinn was actually talking about the 2003 to 2007 arms stalemate in the Legislative Yuan, he said.
Asked by the Taipei Times about the issue, the Pentagon said only that his statements “stand on their own.” It has not responded to other queries.
Shinn was answering a question from Connecticut Representative Joe Courtney, whose district includes the Groton, Connecticut, shipyard of General Dynamics’ Electric Boat division.
That facility would be in a prime position for the contract to build the eight diesel-electric submarines Bush offered in April 2001, but which have been held up since then.
While committee staffers were confused by Shinn’s answer, they concluded that he was talking about the current freeze because “that is consistent with what we have been hearing” from administration officials — that the US has not imposed a freeze.
NO RESPONSE
They say that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has not yet responded to a letter sent to her on June 17 from Courtney and Representative James Langevin asking for an explanation of the freeze, focusing on the fate of the submarines.
The letter asked for a detailed explanation of the status of the submarine deal, the timeline for completion of the review and when Congress will be notified.
Noting that the Legislative Yuan approved initial funding for the subs last year, the lawmakers said that in January, Taiwan submitted a letter of request to start the sales process on the subs. The next step in the process, they wrote, is a 30-day notification of Congress.
“There is some speculation that the pause in Congressional notifications may extend through the end of the summer or even through the end of the current administration and into the next,” the congressmen wrote.
“As you are well aware, the longer it takes to begin the congressional notification process on the submarine program, the harder it will be to complete this next crucial step before the end of the current Congress,” which officially ends in January, they said.
Ministry denies Cabinet halted fighter upgrades
DISCREPANCY: Military analysts were quoted as saying that the Cabinet may have made the decision to help Taipei’s ongoing efforts to improve relations with Beijing
By Hsu Shao-Hsuan
STAFF REPORTER, WITH AGENCIES
Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008, Page 1
An upgraded Taiwan-made Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) “Goshawk” sits in a military hangar in Taipei yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense said it did not receive a request from the Cabinet to halt an IDF upgrade.
PHOTO: HSU SHAO-HSUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday dismissed media reports that it had halted plans to upgrade the Taiwan-made Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) warplanes at the request of the Cabinet to avoid undermining closer ties with Beijing.
Vice Minister of National Defense Lin Yu-pao (林於豹)aid at the legislature that both arms procurement from the US and the Hsiang Chan Project (翔展計畫) would proceed as scheduled.
The Hsiang Chan Project includes enhancing the IDF’s firepower, lengthening its range and providing it with the capability to attack Chinese radar control systems, runways, fuel depots and amphibious troops.
Lin said the project was of tremendous importance to the nation’s defense industry and that there was a major discrepancy between media reports and reality.
The ministry said that the government’s position on the matter had not changed.
The ministry’s response came after the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) quoted an unnamed military source as saying that the Cabinet had instructed the ministry to end the project next year.
The report said the Cabinet would still allocate next year’s NT$1 billion (US$32.8 million) budget for the Hsiang Chan Project, but that the Air Force should use the money for other purposes.
The report said that military officials were surprised by the Cabinet’s request, as in the past it would only ask the military to revise a budget and had never before canceled a project.
Military analysts were quoted as saying that the Cabinet could have made the decision to facilitate Taipei’s ongoing efforts to improve relations with Beijing.
Taiwan began to develop the IDF in 1980, when the US was unwilling to provide it with F-16s. Taiwan built 130 IDFs with the help of defense firm General Dynamics, which manufactures the F-16.
In 1992, Taiwan succeeded in ordering 150 F-16A/Bs from the US and 60 Mirage 2000-5s from France.
As the IDFs were more than 20 years old, and the Aerospace Industry Development Corp (AIDC) launched the NT$7 billion Hsiang Chan Project to upgrade the aircraft.
On March 29 last year, AIDC unveiled the first two upgraded IDFs to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
================
Does anyone know if the rumors of the KMT telling the US to halt weapons are true? and if they are coinciding with this is absolutely shocking. Looks like there won't be any new weapons anytime soon I guess.
DISCREPANCY: Military analysts were quoted as saying that the Cabinet may have made the decision to help Taipei’s ongoing efforts to improve relations with Beijing
By Hsu Shao-Hsuan
STAFF REPORTER, WITH AGENCIES
Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008, Page 1
An upgraded Taiwan-made Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) “Goshawk” sits in a military hangar in Taipei yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense said it did not receive a request from the Cabinet to halt an IDF upgrade.
PHOTO: HSU SHAO-HSUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday dismissed media reports that it had halted plans to upgrade the Taiwan-made Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) warplanes at the request of the Cabinet to avoid undermining closer ties with Beijing.
Vice Minister of National Defense Lin Yu-pao (林於豹)aid at the legislature that both arms procurement from the US and the Hsiang Chan Project (翔展計畫) would proceed as scheduled.
The Hsiang Chan Project includes enhancing the IDF’s firepower, lengthening its range and providing it with the capability to attack Chinese radar control systems, runways, fuel depots and amphibious troops.
Lin said the project was of tremendous importance to the nation’s defense industry and that there was a major discrepancy between media reports and reality.
The ministry said that the government’s position on the matter had not changed.
The ministry’s response came after the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) quoted an unnamed military source as saying that the Cabinet had instructed the ministry to end the project next year.
The report said the Cabinet would still allocate next year’s NT$1 billion (US$32.8 million) budget for the Hsiang Chan Project, but that the Air Force should use the money for other purposes.
The report said that military officials were surprised by the Cabinet’s request, as in the past it would only ask the military to revise a budget and had never before canceled a project.
Military analysts were quoted as saying that the Cabinet could have made the decision to facilitate Taipei’s ongoing efforts to improve relations with Beijing.
Taiwan began to develop the IDF in 1980, when the US was unwilling to provide it with F-16s. Taiwan built 130 IDFs with the help of defense firm General Dynamics, which manufactures the F-16.
In 1992, Taiwan succeeded in ordering 150 F-16A/Bs from the US and 60 Mirage 2000-5s from France.
As the IDFs were more than 20 years old, and the Aerospace Industry Development Corp (AIDC) launched the NT$7 billion Hsiang Chan Project to upgrade the aircraft.
On March 29 last year, AIDC unveiled the first two upgraded IDFs to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
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Does anyone know if the rumors of the KMT telling the US to halt weapons are true? and if they are coinciding with this is absolutely shocking. Looks like there won't be any new weapons anytime soon I guess.
One of Taiwan's AH-1W SuperCobra Attack helicopters has crashed. Two pilots were hospitalised and the more detailed news here:
Wonder what caused the crash and if the military is going to do anything about it. Time to buy the new Apaches and Blackhawks? Opinions anyone?
UPDATE: Taiwan Time 5:10, the pilot of the AH-1W has been officially pronounced dead at the hospital in which he was being treated. Co-pilot died on the spot despite attempts to perform CPR by paramedics.
Wonder what caused the crash and if the military is going to do anything about it. Time to buy the new Apaches and Blackhawks? Opinions anyone?
UPDATE: Taiwan Time 5:10, the pilot of the AH-1W has been officially pronounced dead at the hospital in which he was being treated. Co-pilot died on the spot despite attempts to perform CPR by paramedics.
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