Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Yesterday at 7:27 PM
in case you didn't know
US Warship Sails Through Taiwan Strait amid China Tensions
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and
Taipei: Tico transit near Taiwan tweaks Beijing
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Taiwan said Thursday the U.S. Navy is free to sail through its strait after an American warship did so soon after Beijing warned against foreign interference in its relationship with the island.
“The Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at
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.

China urges the U.S. to “properly handle Taiwan-related issues with caution,” she said.

The
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sailed northward through the Taiwan Strait, said a statement from Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.

Taiwan’s joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance task force said nothing “unusual” took place during its journey, the statement said.

Cmdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet, said the Antietam conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Wednesday to Thursday "in accordance with international law."

The transit “demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Doss said. “The U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.”

China said it paid close attention to the passage and has expressed its concerns to the U.S.

On Wednesday, China warned in
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that it could use force against anyone who intervenes in its efforts to reunify Taiwan.

The ruling Communist Party considers Taiwan part of China, though the democratically governed island split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949.

"If anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will certainly fight, resolutely defending the country's sovereign unity and territorial integrity," Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Wednesday during a briefing on the white paper.

The U.S. has
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by selling arms to Taiwan.

While the U.S. does not have formal diplomatic ties with the island, U.S. law requires that it provide Taiwan with sufficient defense equipment and services for self-defense.
 
now
China Holds Military Drills Near Taiwan
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China is holding military exercises in the East China Sea and the South China Sea near Taiwan this week, days after a defense white paper said Beijing would not rule out retaking the island by force.

The China Maritime Safety Administration issued notices on Sunday and Monday warning against entering broad swaths of airspace and waters off the coast of eastern Zhejiang and southern Guangdong provinces due to "military activity".

The announcements said drills in the East China sea were scheduled to run through Thursday and the ones in the South China Sea would end Friday.

But it did not offer details on the scale of the exercises or which military units were involved.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting unification, even though the two sides have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war in 1949.

The defense white paper published last week stressed Beijing's willingness to use force to thwart any move towards the self-ruled island's independence.

The drills also come days after the
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's USS Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser, conducted a routine transit through the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

Beijing reacted furiously after the US Congress greenlighted the
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earlier this month and threatened sanctions on companies involved.

Relations between Beijing and Taipei have plummeted since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016 because her party refuses to recognize the idea that Taiwan is part of "one China".

As punishment, Beijing has cut official communications, ramped up military exercises, poached diplomatic allies and ratcheted up economic pressure on the island.
 
noted
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·
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Newly-released, hi-res pictures of the recent ROC Navy missile-firing: 1) HF-2 subsonic anti-ship missile (left); 2) HF-3 supersonic anti-ship missile (top right); 3) Standard SM-1 anti-air missile (bottom right).
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now US: Taiwan defense spending to rise with China threat
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America’s top representative in Taiwan said Thursday that Washington expects the island to continue increasing its defense spending as Chinese security threats to the U.S. ally continue to grow.

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said the U.S. had “not only observed Taiwan’s enthusiasm to pursue necessary platforms to ensure its self-defense, but also its evolving tenacity to develop its own indigenous defense industry.”

That was a nod to
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’s drive to develop domestic training jets, submarines and other weapons technology, supplementing arms bought from the U.S.

"These investments by Taiwan are commendable, as is Taiwan's ongoing commitment to increase the defense budget annually to ensure that Taiwan's spending is sufficient to provide for its own self-defense needs," Christensen said in a speech. "And we anticipate that these figures will continue to grow commensurate with the threats Taiwan faces."

Christensen is the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, which has served as the de facto U.S. Embassy in Taiwan since formal diplomatic relations were cut in 1979.

While China and Taiwan split during a civil war in 1949, Beijing still considers Taiwan Chinese territory and has increased its threats to annex the self-governing democracy by force if necessary.

Despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, U.S. law requires Washington to ensure Taiwan has the means to defend itself.

Since 2008, U.S. administrations have notified Congress of more than $24 billion in foreign military sales to Taiwan, including in the past two months the sale of 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger missiles, valued at $2.2 billion dollars, Christensen said.

The Trump administration alone has notified Congress of $4.4 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, he said.

China has responded furiously to all such sales and recently announced it would impose sanctions on any U.S. enterprises involved in such deals, saying they undermine China’s sovereignty and national security.

Tsai has adamantly rejected Chinese pressure to reunite Taiwan and China under the "one-country, two-systems" framework that governs Hong Kong. She and many Taiwanese have said that the people of the island stand with the young people of Hong Kong who are fighting for democratic freedoms in ongoing protests.

Tsai, who says she will seek a second four-year term next year, has said Taiwan was also stepping-up training as it prepared to transition to an all-volunteer force and has raised the defense budget for three consecutive years.

China’s spending on the
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rose to 1.2 trillion yuan ($178 billion) this year, making it the second-largest defense budget behind the United States.

Beijing has cut contacts with Tsai's government over Tsai's refusal to endorse its claim that Taiwan is a part of China and sought to increase its international isolation by reducing its number of diplomatic allies to just 17.

It has also stepped up efforts at military intimidation, holding military exercises across the Taiwan Strait and circling the island with bombers and fighters in what are officially termed training missions.
 

Mr T

Senior Member
$13 billion, jeez, as if that's something to brag about.

It isn't the dollar value that's important, rather that the Taiwanese government is increasing the defence budget over inflation. One of the criticisms that's been made for a decade or more is that Taiwan has called for the US to authorise arms sales but not budgeted enough money to pay for them promptly - or requiring money to be cut from elsewhere in the defence budget. An 8% increase is significant for Taiwan because it starts to give a cushion of money to pay for foreign arms purchases, without needing to hold up domestic projects that Taiwan needs.

In other news, maybe the F-16 is going through now. I'm not sure what an "informal review" is. The DSCA notification process is fairly formal, although Congress' review is fairly routine and uncontroversial. I guess we'll find out fairly soon.

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Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
It isn't the dollar value that's important, rather that the Taiwanese government is increasing the defence budget over inflation. One of the criticisms that's been made for a decade or more is that Taiwan has called for the US to authorise arms sales but not budgeted enough money to pay for them promptly - or requiring money to be cut from elsewhere in the defence budget. An 8% increase is significant for Taiwan because it starts to give a cushion of money to pay for foreign arms purchases, without needing to hold up domestic projects that Taiwan needs.

In other news, maybe the F-16 is going through now. I'm not sure what an "informal review" is. The DSCA notification process is fairly formal, although Congress' review is fairly routine and uncontroversial. I guess we'll find out fairly soon.

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Yes, I believe that Taiwan will indeed be flying newer block F-16's in the near future, events in Hong Kong serve only to remind what really is at stake, Chinese threats keep the heat up? So I'm happy to see Taiwan taking steps to insure their continued independence....

I was within a few weeks of becoming a resident of Formosa as it was called at the time, due to the presence of 4 MC-130Es, or the Combat Talon, in the end my Dad turned down the 2 year assignment, and the next year was assigned to MACVSOG, and had an office in the US Embassy in Saigon....

So I do have more than a passing interest.
 

Brumby

Major
Trump administration plans $8 billion fighter jet sale to Taiwan, angering China
The Trump administration is moving ahead with for an $8 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan despite strong objections from China, a U.S. official and others familiar with the deal said Thursday.

The administration notified Congress late Thursday that it would submit the package for informal review, said the people familiar with the sale. It would be the largest and most significant sale of weaponry to the self-governing island in years, and comes amid stalled trade talks and a deteriorating relationship with China.

Lawmakers from both parties had questioned whether the White House would scuttle the sale to soften the ground for a U.S.-China trade deal, or otherwise use the fighter jets as a bargaining chip in deadlocked negotiations.

The State Department told Congress to expect the arms package to be informally submitted to them by Friday evening, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter.

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Looks like ii is happening.

An infographic put out by the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) has confirmed that it will be getting new F-16s.
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Apr 16, 2019
now I read
US approves F-16 support for Taiwan in face of pressure from Beijing
  • Pilot training, maintenance and logistics package approved for Taiwan’s fighter jet force
  • Sale of advanced warplanes still under consideration
Updated: 1:33pm, 16 Apr, 2019
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and
Trump OK’s F-16 sale to Taiwan amid China tensions
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The Trump administration has informally green lit a potential major arms sale to
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involving dozens of new Lockheed Martin F-16V fighter jets, according to administration and Capitol Hill sources.

The move is part of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s larger
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to combine arms bought from the U.S with domestically developed training jets, submarines and other weapons technology. It’s also sure to
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amid its tense trade dispute with the U.S. and controversial crackdown on Hong Kong protesters.

The
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had been in limbo as the White House directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to hold off, Capitol Hill sources said. That fueled speculation Trump planned to use it as a bargaining chip in ongoing trade negotiations with China.

Washington negotiated the sale with Taipei over several years, leaning on leaders the island nation to devote a significant part of its budget to purchase the fighter jets. Lawmakers were concerned a reversal by Trump who look bad for Tsai, whose government has proposed increasing the total national defense budget by 5.2 percent in 2020 and is running for reelection.

The State Department advanced the sale late yesterday for informal review and approval by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to Capitol Hill sources. From there, there is a mandatory 30-calendar-day formal review process before state can issue a letter of offer and acceptance to Taiwan for the sale.

Congressional Reaction

Key Members of Congress on Friday said the sale will likely be supported on a bipartisan basis in both chambers and invoked the strong bonds between the U.S. and Taiwan.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and the panel’s top Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul, of Texas, said in a joint statement that the sale “sends a strong message about the U.S. commitment to security and democracy in the Indo-Pacific” amid China’s “military aggression in the region.”

“Following our meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen in New York last month, we know this sale will underscore our deep and enduring partnership with Taiwan,” they said. "Further, it will help deter China as they threaten our strategic partner Taiwan and its democratic system of government.”

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s chairman, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, cheered Trump and welcomed the sale as “critical to improving Taiwan’s ability to defend its sovereign airspace, which is under increasing pressure from the People’s Republic of China.”

"Taiwan is a steadfast partner of the United States in advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific, and the United States remains firmly committed to supporting its defense,” Risch said.

The U.S. is Taiwan’s main supplier of defensive weapons, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties. However Beijing considers self-governing Taiwan part of China, to be annexed by force if necessary ― and it has objected to past U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

The F-16V is the most advanced version of a plane that already forms the backbone of Taiwan’s air forces. The country is expected to use the F-16Vs to replace the Northrop F-5E/Fs that are being retired in the next couple of years. Taiwan was also hoping to be cleared to buy F-35s, particularly the STOVL F-35B variant, but approval for that jet does not appear forthcoming.

In July, the U.S.
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of 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks and other equipment, worth a combined $2 billion.

The State Department said it was its policy not to comment on proposed defense sales until they are formally notified to Congress.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-T.X., hailed Trump for the move in a
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Friday and also pointed to China’s defense posture as a reason to approve the sale.

“With China building up its military to threaten us & our allies-and the People’s Liberation Army aiming thousands of missiles at Taiwan and deploying fighter aircrafts along the [Taiwanese Strait]-now more than ever it is critical that Taiwan has the support needed to defend itself,” Cruz’s post read.

Before heading out for Congress’s summer recess weeks ago, Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were urging the Trump administration to move the sale forward.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., downplayed fears the sale would impact trade negotiations with Beijing and said it should go through as soon as possible. “We can’t allow that to dictate our foreign policy or dictate our policy toward Taiwan,” Rubio said.

“Hell, I’d like to sell them F-35’s, so the least we could do is sell them F-16s,” Sen. Corey Gardner, R-Colo., and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee that covers Asia. “It’s the law.”

The U.S. is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to “make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.”

Previous requests, including one for 66 new F-16s, were rejected by the Obama administration. The White House at the time instead offered to upgrade Taiwan’s existing fleet of about 140 F-16A/B Block 20 aircraft, the first of which have been delivered to Taiwan’s Air Force. As of March, however, this process was behind schedule.

In addition to its F-16s, Taiwan’s Air Force is operating the French Mirage 2000 and the locally made AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo fighters, although all three types date from the 1990s and are due for replacement soon, even after upgrades.
 
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