The National Interest
Date: August 23, 2020
By: James Holmes

From the author: "It is incumbent on President Tsai and her advisers to mull the opportunity costs of the looming F-16V purchase. What Taipei spends on Vipers cannot be spent on something else, barring a major increase in the fraction of GDP allocated to defense. If $8 billion would buy platforms and weapons with greater operational and strategic heft, budgeteers should redirect funding to procure them."

Editor's Note: Scholar Dean Cheng the Heritage Foundation has also written for us about this important topic. You can find his essay here. 

Last week the Trump administration informally approved a sale of 66 F-16V Viper fighter jets to Taiwan, presumably to replace the elderly contingent of F-5E/F Tiger II fighters flown by the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF). The sale was bundled into a $62 billion contract award to defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Taiwan’s share of the deal will reportedly total around $8 billion. The air force’s fleet of 144 older F-16A/B aircraft is currently being upgraded to F-16V standards. Assuming the U.S. Congress endorses the sale, as seems likely, the two projects will yield a more modern air force centered on more uniform airframes and equipment.

But is it money well spent for the island?

Yes and no. Yes, arguably, on the politics of the deal. For years reputable analysts have cast doubt on whether the ROCAF can still rule the sky over the island. Back in 2016, for example, a team from RAND pointed out that both numbers and the quality of individual aircraft and weapons increasingly favor China’s air force. This is not the large but backward People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLA Air Force) of old, waiting to be clobbered by superior ROCAF aircraft and airmanship. But the aerial correlation of forces might not even matter. The People’s Liberation Army fields a panoply of ballistic and cruise missiles that could destroy ROCAF fighters before they ever took to the sky.

And yet. Weapons have political as well as combat value. Think about the message President Tsai Ing-wen would be broadcasting to her constituents if the ROCAF more or less dismantled its fighter force and shifted the resources that now go to fighters to fund surface-to-air missiles, as the RAND team suggests. Preemptively admitting that Taiwan would lose the battle to command its own airspace could deflate morale on the island—and human morale is as important as a formidable armory to martial success. Continuing to upgrade the air force projects confidence that Taiwan remains the master of its own fate. Islanders will take heart.
[FULL  STORY]

Once notorious criminal to supervise police department in Taoyuan City

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/23
By: Chris Chang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A former inmate of 20 years is now a city councilor in Taoyuan City after winning an election in June in which his opponent was disqualified for bribery.

Since his inauguration on June 24, the independent Taoyuan City Councilor Duan Shu-wen (段樹文) has headed a committee related to policing and health. Once wanted by the police, he is now reviewing their funding and interrogating officers.

In June, Duan replaced Liu Mao-chun (劉茂群) of the Kuomingtang (KMT) after Lui was disqualified for bribery. Duan has since taken over Lui’s committee assignments, despite his hesitancy to assume the police oversight post.

He was told to follow the council's regulations and wait for the yearly rotations, according to UDN.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/23/2020
By: Lee Wan-yu and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) The Taipei City government donated a shipment of personal protective equipment (PPE), including surgical masks, to San Francisco earlier this month to help the American sister city combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said Sunday.

A total of 100,000 face masks, 12,000 coverall gowns, 50,000 shoe covers and 500 face shields were formally handed over to San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Aug. 18, Ko said in a Facebook post.

The PPE was presented by Hsu Ta-lin (徐大麟), head of San Francisco-Taipei Sister City Committee, on behalf of the Taipei City government, Ko said.

He said the donation was made after his government learned in June that there had been a spike in COVID-19 cases in San Francisco, a sister city of Taipei's.   [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 24, 2020
By: Lin Liang-sheng / Staff reporter

Several senior members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday attended a memorial service in Taipei for late former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村), who died on March 30 at the age of 100.

KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who serves as KMT chairman, former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were among those who attended the service.

Han and Chu declined media requests for comment, while Chiang, in response to media questions, reiterated the KMT’s support for local disease prevention efforts.

Ma took the opportunity to respond to comments by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
[FULL  STORY]

A young soldier’s suicide reveals the disastrous logistics of an undersupplied army.

Foreign Policy
Date: August 20, 2020
By: Paul Huang

As China builds up military forces across the Taiwan strait and vows to take back the island through “any means” necessary, the United States and others hope for a Taiwan that can stand on its own feet against Chinese aggression. But in reality, not only is the Taiwanese military facing a serious shortage of soldiers and an entirely dysfunctional reserve system, as my previous reporting for Foreign Policy revealed, half of its tanks may not be able to run—and even fewer have functional weapons. These failures are costing lives even before China fires a single shot. As Taiwanese politicians showcase flashy U.S. weapons bought with taxpayers’ money, the logistics inside the military remain so abysmal that a young army officer killed himself after being pressured to buy repair parts out of his own pocket.

Huang Zhi-jie was a 30-year-old lieutenant in the Taiwanese army. Initially serving in the airborne troops as an enlisted soldier, Huang was so committed that he requested officer training—normally considered more work for little reward—and was later commissioned as a lieutenant in charge of a maintenance depot of the 269th Mechanized Infantry Brigade. Huang was supposed to be the model soldier of which Taiwan desperately wanted more: a young, college-educated volunteer who chose to serve the country out of his own volition, at a time when the military was still facing difficult transition from conscription to an all-volunteer military.

But on the night of April 16, Huang hung himself on a dark staircase by his base’s mess hall. Initially his death was not even reported in the Taiwanese media, until Huang’s mother took to Facebook in a long open letter appealing to President Tsai Ing-wen for an investigation.
[FULL  STORY]

ANI
Date: Aug 23, 2020

Beijing [China], Aug 23 (ANI): Amid the threat of China endangering Taiwan's security, the country's defence ministry has released a video showing troops firing anti-aircraft, anti-tank and anti-ship missiles in defence of the island against a mock invasion from across the Taiwan Strait, South China Morning Post reported.

While releasing the video, the ministry reportedly issued a warning to China saying that the latter should not underestimate the island nation's capability to defend itself.

South China Morning Post quoted the ministry as saying, "The most egotistical country can thoughtlessly provoke a war and the most ignorant government can be caught in the flames of war."
The ministry further said that repeated provocation by China's People's Liberation Army will no longer work.

"It would have only the effect of triggering the wrath and antipathy of Taiwan's people, and hurt peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

Variant not seen since March provides hope that vaccine could reduce severity of infections

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A milder variant of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), which causes less severe infections, spread from the Chinese city to Taiwan, researchers in Singapore said Friday (Aug. 21).

The mutation emerged in Wuhan during the early stages of the pandemic before spreading to Taiwan and Singapore, according to experts at Singapore's National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), per the Straits Times. The variant was later transmitted through several clusters in the Southeast Asian city-state from January to March.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/22/2020
By: Yeh Chen and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) Taiwan-based StarLux Airlines and China Airlines (CAL) took passengers Saturday on three sightseeing flights that had no destination, in celebration of Chinese Valentine's Day, as international travel remained restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

StarLux' flights JX8025 and JX8520 left from Taoyuan International Airport at 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively, taking passengers on a four-hour trip southward to Taiwan's Pratas Islands in the South China Sea and back to Taoyuan.

The airline decorated the departure gate with a backdrop depicting the Taipei Xia-Hai City God Temple, where people usually go to pray for a marriage partner.

Before boarding one of the StarLux flights, a man proposed to his girlfriend, who accepted his proposal.    [FULL  STORY]

A BIG RISK? Forty-six percent of respondents disagreed and 32 percent agreed that restricting foreign students from returning would imperil schools’ survival

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 23, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

Taiwanese appear divided over whether the government should allow more Chinese students to return to their studies at local universities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll released yesterday by the Grassroots Influence Foundation showed.

The Ministry of Education on Aug. 5 announced that all foreign students could return to their studies in Taiwan, but later that day said that the policy did not include all Chinese students, sparking criticism.

According to the ministry, Chinese students who are to graduate this semester have been allowed to return since July 22.

Asked if they support the government allowing Chinese students to return to their studies in Taiwan, 43 percent of respondents expressed support, while another 43 percent expressed disapproval, the poll showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 21 August, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

The foreign ministry has hit back at Chinese accusations that Taiwan paid for the release of a controversial photo featuring China’s ambassador to Kiribati.

The photo was released by Australian critic of Beijing Drew Pavlou. It was taken on Kiribati’s Marakei Island, and shows a row of local people lying face down to form a human red carpet for China’s ambassador to the country. The ambassador is shown walking across their backs, steadied by a local woman on each side.

The picture has met with a mixed reaction online. Some i-Kiribati people say the photo shows a welcome ceremony that is part of Marakei Island’s culture and can be seen at weddings. However, some commentators have questioned the appropriateness of the ambassador taking part in such a ceremony.

The Pacific Island nation of Kiribati had recognized Taiwan until last year, when it severed ties in favor of relations with China. Beijing alleges that Taiwan paid Pavlou to release the photo with the intention of damaging its recently-forged ties with Kiribati.    [FULL  STORY]