Asia-Pacific News
Taiwan asks US to quickly approve sale of F-16C/D warplanes
Jan 9, 2008, 7:17 GMT
Taipei - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian Wednesday asked the United States to approve speedily sales of 66 latest-version F-16 warplanes in the wake of growing missile threats from China.
'The parliament (in Taiwan) has already approved the budget for the purchase of the F-16C/D fighter jets. We hope the US government can approve the deal soonest in line with the Taiwan Relations Act,' Chen said.
Speaking in a meeting with a group of visiting US congressmen at his office in Taipei, Chen said China, a rival of Taiwan since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949, has deployed 1,328 missiles targeting the island as of January 1, up 340 from last year's figure.
He said such a fast increasing rate is 'amazing' and the rapid buildup serves only to further threaten the stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Asia-Pacific region. He said there is a need for Taiwan to upgrade its defence.
Washington, irked by Chen's defiance of its warning against his plan to hold a controversial referendum in March alongside the presidential election, has deferred the approval of the 66 F-16 C/D planes for Taiwan.
Under the Taiwan Relations Act, the US, which is the biggest informal ally and arms supplier of Taiwan, has the obligation to ensure Taiwan has enough defence capability in dealing with an attack from China.
Chen has refused to pay heed to the warning of the US, which has described his referendum on the island joining the United Nations in Taiwan name 'highly unnecessary,' 'a mistake' and 'provocative.' Washington is concerned that the referendum would provoke China and intensify cross-strait tension.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Now that's all fun and great Joel, but the US still recognizes the 'One China' policy and most of the rest of the world does too.
I think Taiwan should punish the US by refusing to buy anymore US military equipment and ordering the US not to defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion. That will teach the Americans a lesson!
Although US recognizes 'One China', US does NOT define one china as 'Taiwan is part of china'. This is why China wanted to amend resolution 2758, but later dropped it as a result of the objection from US.
Personally, I don't think buying super expensive weapons from US would necessarily help Taiwan from defending itself from mainland attack as China can still overwhelm Taiwan. The only way to defend is for Taiwan to go nuclear. This will force China to come to negotiation without precondition.
But going nuclear is against the NPT.
If Taiwan is allowed to go nuclear or even does it covertly, what's the say that other countries shouldn't be allowed either? Like Syria, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Saudi Arabia?
It sets a dangerous precedent.
NPT? I thought only 'country' participate in NPT? Since Taiwan is not in UN, why would you need to follow NPT? If Taiwan is in UN, then that's a different story.
Are you sure you want to use that angle?
By your logic, Al-Qaida isn't a part of the UN nor does it have it's own country; thus, Al-Qaida should be fully allowed to have nuclear weapons? How about Hezbollah? I'm assuming they should be allowed to have nuclear weapons too?
Is that what you want? Is that your logic?
Think before you post please. Don't be like Chen Shui-bian, who blurts things out before he thinks about it.
i think you need to think before you post. how can you compare taiwan to Al Qaida? and you call yourself a taiwan patriot? bad choice!
by the way, it's isn't only president chen who covertly wanted to have nuclear weapons. Many of the KMT backers are also complaining about how US forced taiwan to abandon nuclear program back in the 70's and 80's.
I'm not saying taiwan should use it, but merely having it will greatly boost the negotiating power with ccp. otherwise, how do u negotiate when there are over 1000 missiles pointing at you? not to mention the enlargement on both navys and air force.
What do you mean how can I compare Al-Qaida to Taiwan? They are in the same situation: both occupy territories that most of the world don't recognize as independent, both aren't recognized by the UN or pretty much any other world body as an entity, and both are targets of world powers (US for Al-Qaida and China for Taiwan).
Am I comparing the Taiwanese people to terrorists? No. So stop pitting it as if I'm saying that. In fact, I think you hate Taiwan, because you hate the KMT, which is a democratic party in the political process of Taiwanese politics. How can you hate a party like that? That's unpatriotic!
The same reason why you state Taiwan should have nuclear weapons is the same reason countries like North Korea and Iran want it: 'we aren't going to use it, but we need them to balance out the negotiation tables. To even out the power imbalance'. That's still a VERY dangerous way of thinking and you can't concretely say that you won't use it.
By your logic, again, Iran and North Korea should fully obtain nuclear weapons. Right? Do you want that?
page: 1
Joel LintonJan 9th, 2008 - 09:18:20
First of all, Chen did not call 'China, a rival of Taiwan since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949' But the way the writer placed the clause made it look like Chen agrees with this statement.
Taiwan did not split at the end of a civil war. The KMT one-party-dictatorship state lost a civil war in China and then retreated to the Japanese territory of Taiwan with the help of the U.S. Taiwan was not relinquished by Japan until a treaty in 1951 and was not given to the KMT-dictatorship which called itself the 'Republic of China'. Taiwan was not a part of China or its civil war. Because of the perseverance of sacrifice of the Taiwanese people, the KMT-one-party-dictatorship regime is no more.
Second, President Chen cannot somehow of his own stop the referendums. That would be him breaking the law of the nation of Taiwan over which he is president. He is not a dictator. The law's requirement to hold the referrendums were met, the one about joining the U.N. under the name Taiwan had over 2 million signatures of Taiwanese citizens -- double the requirement to place it on the ballot.
Third, President Bush's State department should obey their own laws, namely the Taiwan Relations Act and go ahead without delay the sale of those fighters.
Finally, it is China, not Taiwan who is the provocative one -- China threatens war at every turn. China refuses to recognize countries who have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and insists they sever ties with Taiwan before being able to have diplomatic relations with China. Taiwan would be happy to allow any nation to recognize both countries. China is the one trying to annex Taiwan. Taiwan is not trying sieze one inch of China's territory.
The U.S. needs to be soundly rebuking China, as should the rest of the world.
And the U.N. needs to let Taiwan in. Let's have a replay of the 1972 event, only this time, let every nation in the world give Taiwan a Taiwan seat, and dare China to try to veto it.
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