The island’s media yesterday buzzed with reports that DPP authorities were contemplating new US military purchases, which are thought to be linked to Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House. Foreign media have compiled a list of high-priced weapons Taiwan’s military wants to buy, saying it is ready to hand over $15bn to the new US government.
What’s on the list
Several Taiwanese media quoted the Financial Times on November 12. William Lai’s deputy, Hsiao Bi-khim, and Joseph Wu, the “Secretary-general of the National Security Council”, are in charge of the proposed arms deal, the Financial Times said yesterday. The report quoted a senior Taiwanese security official as revealing that DPP authorities had begun “Informal discussions” with Donald Trump’s team. During Donald Trump’s first term, the US approved 11 arms sales to Taiwan worth $21bn, including F-16s. By contrast, the Biden administration has so far approved $7bn in arms sales to Taiwan. The official said there were a number of large weapons platforms and other projects that the Taiwanese military had long wanted but had not been able to acquire.
According to the Financial Times, several people familiar with the matter said, taiwan could ask for as many as 60 F-35s, four E-2D Hawkeye, 10 retired warships and 400 Patriot missiles, the total estimated value could exceed $15bn. A former Trump administration official said that if Taiwan continued with its arms sales, it would probably seek out the new White House National Security Adviser and submit a highly ambitious package of hardware purchases. Another Taiwanese official said the Aegis destroyer would be one of the”First choices” on the new list. Su Ziyun, a military academic, predicted that the island could ask for decommissioned “Fort Ticonderoga”-class cruisers and “Perry”-class frigates.
Kirby, the White House National Security Council’s Strategic Communications Co-ordinator, is a possible top national security official in the new administration, according to the China Times, a Taiwanese newspaper, “People who care about Taiwan should be very clear that they need to significantly strengthen their military,” he said. He wants Taiwan to increase military spending to 5 per cent of GDP, compared with the current defence budget of about 2.5 per cent.
In addition, Reuters quoted aviation industry sources as saying on the 7th, Taiwan’s China Airlines is about to sign up to 20 passenger aircraft, a total of $4 billion long-haul passenger aircraft order, the order will be split between Boeing and Airbus. This has also been described as”Paying protection money”.
Money, manpower and maintenance skills are no good
In response to the Financial Times’ report, William Lai’s office spokeswoman, Guo Yahui, said on the 11th that there would be collation and discussion of relevant military needs between Taiwan and the US from time to time, “But there is no new stage of discussion.”. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said that the goal of building up the strength of the Taiwanese army was to be raised annually based on operational needs and the island’s financial resources, and that”Any weapons and equipment that our allies can provide to enhance our defense and combat capabilities will be raised as an option for our side.”.
An analysis by the New York Times said it would be politically difficult for William Lai to increase military spending significantly because the DPP does not have an advantage in the “Legislature”. A retired general on the island told the New York Times that the foreign media had reported on a”Dream list of military purchases”, and now”Asano”, such a huge military purchase budget, whether it can be implemented on a practical level remains to be seen.
The”Purchase list” includes F-35 fighter jets that the United States has not sold to Taiwan, China Times said Monday. According to the report, the Air Force issued a press release in October 2019 saying that the F-35 could only be purchased with the consent of the funding parties involved in the development, and that according to the production schedule planned at that time, it had to wait until the 2044 was available. Taiwan’s Air Force switched to buying F-16V fighters because of long queues. In addition, there is also an E-2D early warning aircraft on the list. As the E-2K early warning aircraft has been in service for a long time, the Taiwan Army has indeed listed the E-2D as a priority purchase item, but the amount of each E-2D aircraft exceeds NT $10 billion, opinion within the military is divided. As for Fort Ticonderoga cruisers, the former defence minister, Chiu kwok-ching, made clear in 2022 that “There is no such plan”. A retired general in the island believes that the United States can not keep up with the speed of ship-building, how can the warships can be sold to Taiwan? Moreover, Taiwan simply can not afford such warships and F-35, not only money, but also human and maintenance technology. “China Times” believes that only the”Patriot” missile this project, if Taiwan and the United States negotiate to replace all the missile type 2 to Type 3, the United States may nod.
Huang Kuibo, a professor at the Political Science University of Taiwan, believes that the Financial Times’ reports are mostly based on statements made by the Taiwanese side. Similar tactics have been frequently used in the past few years. Now that Trump has just been elected, the team has yet to be formed, it is difficult to ensure that there are channels through which information can be conveyed, and the DPP authorities can only”Directly use the media as a channel”. Huang Jiecheng, an associate professor at the Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan, said that selling large, expensive traditional platforms, even if it allows manufacturers to get big orders, may not be approved by the U.S. government, moreover, the US side is quite aware of the plight of the Taiwan military’s serious shortage of human resources, “If we lack the concept of defensive operations as the support for arms sales, we will only draw a big picture, thinking that ‘the more you buy, the safer you will be’ , the result is nothing but a joke.”.
Public opinion on the island is worried
There are plenty of voices on the island expressing considerable concern about the FT’s coverage. Eric Chu, chairman of the Kuomintang party, said on the 11th that the first priority in the budget should be economic development and people’s livelihood needs, so that cross-strait peace, reduce conflicts, and use the money in the right way. On the 11th, Luo Qingsheng, executive director of Taiwan’s Institute for International Strategy, wrote that Taiwan’s previous obedience to the US would not be respected, but would be seen as an attempt to gain us protection in exchange, that’s why it’s a burden to the United States.
According to Taiwan’s Yonhap news website, Donald Trump attaches “America first” and “We will have to pay a price if we want to maintain or make further progress in taiwan-us relations” on economic, trade and security issues. The authorities of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have placed “False bets” on the US presidential election, especially on former Secretary of State Pompeo, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday, to cover up his embarrassment, Donald Trump has been approached by the financial times for military hardware in the form of a “Propaganda campaign”, even though there are no effective channels of communication. This is not only a response to Donald Trump’s demand that the Taiwan authorities pay “Protection fees”, but also a voluntary submission of a “Petition”. The article argued that the DPP authorities had a deeper purpose, which was to try to get the new administration to agree on a whim by proposing a list of arms purchases that would seriously contravene the Three Communiqués rules, drag it into the water, “Command it to challenge the Three Communiqués.”. The China Times said on the 12th that even if Donald Trump went to Washington with cash and did not know who to talk to, the island’s security officials would first announce it through foreign media, “Who are you courting?”