Taiwan’s defense ministry expresses gratitude in a statement in response to the signing

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/24
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Just before the Christmas holiday, United States President Barack Obama

signed the annual defense authorization act in which requires the Pentagon to facilitate military exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan, following the approval by the House and Senate on December 2 and 8, respectively. It is also the first of its kind to regulate the exchanges with the island country in U.S. domestic law.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (2017 NDAA) is a year-end policy bill encompassing every aspect of the U.S. military, which contains several provisions with ‘potentially momentous consequences,’ the Los Angeles Times reported, including heightened tension or a ‘space-based arms race’ with Russia and China, thanks to a provision that demands the Pentagon to start ‘research, development, test and evaluation’ of space-based systems for missile defense.

On top of that, the act stipulated that the Pentagon shall carry out a program of exchanges of ‘senior military officers and senior officials between the U.S. and Taiwan’ designed to improve military-to-military relations between the two.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/23
By: Claudia Liu and Y.F. Low

0Taipei, July 23 (CNA) A U.S. decision to postpone delivery of AAV-7 assault amphibious vehicles

ordered by Taiwan is the result of discussion between Taipei and Washington, the Navy said Saturday.

It dismissed as untrue a media report that describes the postponement as indicating a change in relations between Taiwan and the United Sates.

According to the Liberty Times newspaper, Taiwan has placed an order for 36 AAV-7 assault amphibious vehicles with the United Sates, with the first batch originally scheduled to be delivered in the second half of this year.

Washington, however, informed Taipei recently that the delivery date will be postponed for three-and-a-half years until 2020, the paper said, citing an unnamed “authoritative source.”     [FULL  STORY]

Imagine a world in which Taiwanese F-35s patrol the skies over the South China Sea.

National Interest
Date: April 4, 2016
By: Nicholas Butts & Jared McKinney

What would happen if the United States decides to sell its new F-35 Lightning II fighter to Taiwan? The fictionalized scenario below, based on a careful analysis of the Chinese leadership, attempts to answer that question.

March 2, 2017: A Taiwanese fighter jet on a routine patrol collides with a Chinese drone and crashes into the South China Sea; the pilot is killed. In response, the Republic of China Air Force, which for some time has been asking for upgraded planes, presses for a new arms package from America. Despite promising to maintain peace and stability in cross-Strait relations a little over a year ago in her victory speech, Tsai Ing-Wen, Taiwan’s president, is faced with growing pressure to respond strongly. A concerned Legislative Yuan authorizes major defense budget increases (overcoming budget difficulties) aimed at acquiring the F-35. Eager to signal that the rebalance she spearheaded in the Obama administration is returning in full force, newly elected president Hillary Clinton (following the advice of hawkish media commentators) directs the Defense Department to sell Taipei fifty F-35s. The sale is made, despite severe protestations from Beijing. How is a humiliated China likely to respond?
President Xi assembles his National Security Commission (NSC) and asks for options. Exasperated with the United States for so publically rejecting his offer of a “new type of great power relations,” he says he wants to “impose costs” on Taiwan and America for their destabilizing actions. Liu He, Xi’s principal economic advisor and vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, replies that the Sino-American economic relationship is too important to risk over arms sales to Taiwan, which have occurred before. “Moreover, even unofficial aggression, such as the incident with the young singer during the election in Taiwan, can strengthen the voices for independence. Our response, therefore, should be subtle.”     [FULL  STORY]

The National Interest
Date: January 19, 2016
By: Dave Majumdar

While much of the world was focused on Saturday’s election success of Tsai Ing-wen and what it might mean for cross-strait relations, another important development for Taiwan that directly impacts regional security slid by largely unnoticed.

It was reported late last week that Washington might offer Taipei surplus Boeing AV-8B Harrier II Plus strike aircraft as the U.S. Marine Corps retires the venerable jump-jets in favor the stealthy, supersonic F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. According to Defense News, the Harriers would be offered under the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program.

Taipei desperately wants Lockheed Martin’s stealthy, short takeoff, vertical landing F-35B—which is currently operational with the U.S. Marine Corps. But the United States is very unlikely to sell Taiwan the advanced supersonic stealth strike aircraft for fear of antagonizing Beijing—which regards the island as a breakaway province. Indeed, in previous years, the United States declined to sell Taipei new Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons, even though the island’s supporters in Washington had lobbied hard for the sale. Given the F-35’s offensive potential and the sensitive nature of its technology, the Pentagon is likely to be even more reticent about supplying Taiwan with the Joint Strike Fighter.     [FULL  STORY]