ROCAF Indigenous Fighter Program

Semi-Lobster

Semi-Lobster

Junior Member
kliu0 said:
There was news before of possible Rafale sales to Taiwan....wonder what happened?
Click to expand...

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


Just discussion and speculation it seems, nothing official in anyway. Hopefully France will learn from blowing the Saudi Arabia deal last year if approached by the ROCAF, to not try to include the Rafale in another 'package' that nobody wants.
 
bladerunner

bladerunner

Banned Idiot
Is it not a possibility the West and USA may not be as willing to let Taiwan have cutting edge equipment because of the possibility of a political rapprochement with the PRC?
 
Mr T

Mr T

Senior Member
bladerunner said:
Is it not a possibility the West and USA may not be as willing to let Taiwan have cutting edge equipment because of the possibility of a political rapprochement with the PRC?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's a reported concern. But political rapproachment itself shouldn't be a problem because Taiwan can't negotiate with China equally if it doesn't have modern weapons. And it won't get modern weapons if it shares those secrets with China.

There's always the possibility of individuals trying to smuggle secrets, but that's always been a problem.
 
Mr T

Mr T

Senior Member
crobato said:
Kind of like, you sell Rafale, me no buy Airbus.
Click to expand...

Boeing are selling Apaches to Taiwan. Does that mean China is giving Airbus a monopoly? Or is there some sort of sliding scale where China can accept helicopter sales but not fighters? I thought it objected to both.
 
crobato

crobato

Colonel
VIP Professional
Mr T said:
Boeing are selling Apaches to Taiwan. Does that mean China is giving Airbus a monopoly? Or is there some sort of sliding scale where China can accept helicopter sales but not fighters? I thought it objected to both.
Click to expand...

How China applies the political and economic squeeze depends in particular to that country. For the US, its like me no buy Treasury bonds. However, economic crisis far overshadows any arms sales issue to Taiwan right now, so Taiwan has a window of opportunity here.
 
Mr T

Mr T

Senior Member
crobato said:
How China applies the political and economic squeeze depends in particular to that country.
Click to expand...

Ah, so it's easier to push European countries around individually than the US? That's understandable.

However, economic crisis far overshadows any arms sales issue to Taiwan right now, so Taiwan has a window of opportunity here.
Click to expand...

It's a two-edged sword. Pro-China members of the Washington establishment could argue that this is a time the US needs China more than ever. I guess we might see more opportunities for Taiwan this year, but are the defence companies doing that badly? Could China play a clever game and offer big investments (maybe minority stakes and giving up some/all voting rights to avoid political objections) for no extra big arms sales?
 
crobato

crobato

Colonel
VIP Professional
Depends how smart President Ma is. If you're smart, you must try to look "friendly" with China while letting the other hand buy weapons. A bit of Sun Tzu here.
 
Mr T

Mr T

Senior Member
crobato said:
Depends how smart President Ma is. If you're smart, you must try to look "friendly" with China while letting the other hand buy weapons. A bit of Sun Tzu here.
Click to expand...

I believe he wants to do both as you say. Problem is if the Americans think his right hand will take the weapons, pass them over to the left hand and the Chinese will have a look at them then they may decide best not to sell anything too nice.

I'd say that's being too smart for your own good, but that would be giving Ma too much credit.
 
Semi-Lobster

Semi-Lobster

Junior Member
Mr T said:
I believe he wants to do both as you say. Problem is if the Americans think his right hand will take the weapons, pass them over to the left hand and the Chinese will have a look at them then they may decide best not to sell anything too nice.

I'd say that's being too smart for your own good, but that would be giving Ma too much credit.
Click to expand...

There is also the chance of espionage on the part of the PRC to obtain them as well from the ROC. Although China already has a lot of experience with the F-16 considering Pakistan's use of them, I'm not exactly sure what more they could learn. I don't think ROCAF has even specified what Block F-16 they would prefer so I doubt they are aiming for something like the Block 60
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top