Michael Chase, who writes cogently on Taiwan defense issues, has a new piece out in the Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief on Taiwan’s Defense Budget: how much is enough in the new era of cross-strait lovefesting? Ok, so he didn’t title it that way…an excerpt:
Taiwan’s ambitious force modernization goals include procurement of P-3C maritime patrol aircraft, [...]
When you listen to US government officials and the punditocracy talk, what you hear is that Taiwan is to blame for dragging its feet on the arms purchases from the US. The island, we’re told, isn’t serous about its own defense. While it is true that the KMT-dominated legislature has caused grave harm to relations [...]
Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, abusing westerners for their propensity to take China’s feelings seriously, once observed that China was different: it had to be treated like a Ming vase. No better example can be found than the Bush Adminstration’s treatment of China:
The U.S. ambassador to China, Clark T. “Sandy” Randt, [...]
And he writhed inside at what seemed like the cruelty and unfairness of the demand. He had not yet learned that if you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one.
The reliably excellent Wendell Minnick has a couple of stories out this week. The [...]
The latest updates from inside the Beltway, via the Nelson Report.
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….Basic agreement that Beijing did not do a good job of coordinating message delivery between its politicals and its military, partly because the only real commingling takes place right at the very top, under President Hu.The net became that while China feels it has consistently [...]
Yesterday the Taipei Times reported that the Formosa Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), the premier advocacy group for Taiwan in the US, had slammed Steve Young of the officially unofficial US representative body, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), for his attacks on the UN referendum. Gerrit van Der Wees passed around the text of [...]
The Nelson Report, the well-known Washington insider report from Chris Nelson, on the US, Taiwan, and arms purchases. I’ve highlighted certain sections, and left comments after others. This is a long piece, well-written, and insightful from someone with an involvement in Taiwan affairs that dates back some thirty years……
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TAIWAN ARMS…the debate over selling arms to [...]
With the media raising the spectre of confrontation across the Taiwan Strait, there’s been quite a flow of news about Taiwan’s military in recent days.
Yesterday the US Taiwan Business Council criticized Washington for delaying on the sale of 66 F-16 fighters the island desperately needs:
A U.S. business group accused the Bush administration Friday of jeopardizing [...]
Wendell Minnick reports from Taipei that Taiwan is considering writing a formal letter in pursuit of the 66 F-16s.
Taiwan is writing a formal letter of request for price and availability data for 66 F-16C/D Block 50/52s, local defense sources said.
In June, Taiwan’s legislature passed a defense budget allocating $450 million in frozen funds for the [...]
Jane Rickards, formerly of the pro-KMT China post and currently of the American Chamber of Commerce here in Taiwan, has an article in the Washington Post today on the legislature’s passage of a tiny portion of the contentious arms purchase:
The negotiated decision, which passed on a vote of 176 to 20, called for Taiwan to [...]
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