Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

adeptitus said:

Other "nice to have" stuff... M109 PIM upgrade

On that note, I also think that the PRC-ROC direct flight should be eventually expanded to daily and not just weekends, the influx of tourists should bring lots of jobs too. But the port of entry should be restricted to Taichung for better security management. Mainland tourists would be encouraged to check out "middle Taiwan" before hopping on the high speed rail to visit Taipei or Kaohsiung. Yes, visit Changhua and eat our meat balls, dammit. ;p

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What the difference between the M109 and the PIM upgrade? Changhua? You from Taiwan?

By the way, if those upgrades are available for procurement and does the job I think the ROC should go for it. But they should also prioritizing upgrading their air defense first. The new Sky Bow III missiles should come into operation within the next few years, I believe Taiwan should not decommission the old missiles, but rather place them all over Taiwan to improve the coverage of the anti-aircraft/missile system. The HAWK and Sky Bow I, II are still very good missile systems. And the first generation and second generation Hsiung Feng anti-ship missile should be placed onto various outlying islands and mainland Taiwan coastal areas to maximize defense. Nothing wrong with improving coverage right?

Update on the Taiwan military procurement freeze (only minor parts are new)

Top U.S. officials stalling arms package

By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Top Bush administration officials are delaying a long-promised US$11 billion arms package for Taiwan, raising the possibility that the issue will be left for the next president, according to sources inside and outside the administration.

The package was originally proposed by the Bush administration in April 2001, shortly after Bush took office, but it faced repeated delays in approval by Taiwan's legislature. Now that funding for the package has been approved -- and Taiwan's new government has indicated that it wants the arms as well as a separate package of F-16 aircraft -- both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Stephen Hadley have put the brakes on the deal, sources said.

No official change in policy appears to have been made, sources said, but administration inaction has resulted in a de facto freeze. As part of the process of approving military sales to foreign countries, the administration must send a formal notification to Congress, which then has 30 days to raise questions. But the effort to send the notifications has slowed because of inertia at the administration's most senior levels.

Rice, for instance, has been urged by the State Department's East Asian Affairs bureau and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to forward an official recommendation to the president to issue the notifications, but she has not yet done so. Hadley, meanwhile, has limited the discussions on the issue between the White House and State, further slowing the process.

The notifications would need to be delivered at least a month before an expected mid-October congressional adjournment if the sales are to proceed this year, experts said.

Taiwan's government privately had requested that the administration not send the notifications in the next few weeks as China and Taiwan complete negotiations on launching charter flights and expanding tourism between the two countries, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the discussions. But top officials such as Rice were irritated by Taiwan's protracted domestic wrangling over the sale and appear wary of irritating China during the negotiations over North Korea's nuclear programs.

At stake is US$11 billion in weapons deals that include 30 Apache helicopters, 60 Black Hawk helicopters, eight diesel electric submarines and four Patriot air defense missile batteries, which Taiwan's legislature approved in separate budgets in June and December of last year. For two years, the administration has also refused to accept a "letter of request" from Taiwan for 66 F-16 C/D fighters -- estimated to cost US$5 billion -- that would lead to a potential sale.

"Our assessment at this time is the Bush administration has this package on hold for the foreseeable future," said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council. "We need to make a decision now, or this will slip into the next administration."

Supporters of Taiwan -- which China regards as a renegade province -- argue that the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act requires the United States to provide defensive arms to Taiwan based solely upon Taiwan's needs.

The White House referred calls to the State Department. Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, said that "there is no change in U.S. government policy" and that "the administration faithfully implement the Taiwan Relations Act."

He added that "there is an internal, interagency process for the U.S. government to consider sales to Taiwan" and "when the interagency process achieves a final decision for any specific arms sale, we will notify Congress."

*Note, perhaps Taiwan will request to unfreeze weapons after cross-strait talks?

War with Japan? Seems the relations between Japan and Taiwan worsen each day over this.

War remark by Liu sparks controversy
SOVEREIGNTY CLAIM: After being pressed by a KMT legislator about going to war with Japan over the Diaoyutai islands, the premier said war was a last option
By Flora Wang and Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Jun 14, 2008, Page 1

“I believe declaration of war is the last option to resolve controversies between two nations.”

— Liu Chao-shiuan, premier

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday he would not rule out going to war with Japan if Taipei and Tokyo fail to resolve the dispute over the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) islands triggered by Tuesday’s collision between a Taiwanese fishing boat and a Japanese patrol vessel.

“I believe declaration of war is the last option to resolve controversies between two nations,” Liu said when fielding repeated questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ken-te (陳根德) on the floor of the legislature about whether the Cabinet was ready for a war with Japan.

Liu made the comment after being repeatedly asked if he had not ruled out war as an option in the dispute.

Later in an interpellation session with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅), the premier elaborated on his remark, saying that war would be the last choice if all peaceful means were in vain.

But “we are always ready in terms of any action to defend the nation’s sovereignty,” he said.

Under the Constitution, only the president can declare war.

The Taiwanese fishing boat and Japanese patrol boat collided at 3:38am on Tuesday, resulting in the sinking of the Taipei County-registered vessel.

The three crewmembers and 13 fishermen aboard the boat were rescued by the Japanese and taken to Ishigaki in the Ryukyu island chain for medical treatment and questioning. One of the crewmen said the Japanese patrol vessel had deliberately rammed into the Taiwanese boat. The Japanese coast guard said the Taiwanese boat had made an abrupt turn and hit its vessel.

The 13 fishermen returned home on Wednesday morning and two crewmembers were released on Thursday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday afternoon that Ho Hung-yi (何鴻義), the boat’s captain, had been released by Japan and was expected to return to Taipei at 7:55pm.

News of Ho’s release came after Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) threatened yesterday morning to recall Taiwan’s representative to Japan if Tokyo did not demonstrate goodwill by 5pm yesterday.

Ou had made the threat during an interpellation session at the Legislative Yuan.

What had been a minor diplomatic incident escalated after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his administration were criticized across party lines as being too weak after a report on Thursday in the Chinese-language United Daily News that said the foreign ministry had instructed a Taiwanese coast guard vessel to “back off” as it approached the scene of the collision.

While the Presidential Office issued a statement on Thursday afternoon reaffirming Taiwan’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutais, Ma has remained tight-lipped amid calls for him to clarify his position on the issue.

KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), a member of the Diplomacy and National Defense Committee, told reporters that the committee has demanded the Ministry of National Defense (MND) provide a Kidd-class destroyer to take committee members on an inspection tour of the incident area.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said Vice Speaker Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) would lead the inspection trip.

Peter Tsai (蔡明耀), the head of the ministry’s Committee of Japanese Affairs, said on Thursday that he was the one who placed the call to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), asking that its ship stay away from the 12 nautical mile (22km) exclusion zone surrounding the Diaoyutais after he got a request from Japan.

Liu told Lee yesterday that he could not accept the foreign ministry’s instructions to the coast guard, adding that he would ask the ministry to reorganize itself and eliminate organizations such as the Committee of Japanese Affairs.

Meanwhile, Ou told lawmakers that he had summoned Tokyo’s representative in Taiwan twice to express the government’s concerns over the incident.

Ou told Chen that the Japanese representative had promised to respond as soon as possible, but Tokyo had yet to do so.

Ou also confirmed that he had received Tsai’s resignation. Tsai offered to resign on Thursday night to take responsibility for calling the Coast Guard Administration. However, the issue at hand was the safety of those aboard the fishing boat and protecting Taiwan’s sovereignty, not placing any blame, the foreign minister said.

“The internal communication breakdown among government agencies greatly contributed to the mishap,” Ou said.

No demerits would be handed out until a thorough review of the situation has been made, he said.

Ou said a special cross-agency committee was set up in 1999 to deal with the Diaoyutai sovereignty dispute, “but since then, the committee has not been functional.” He said Tuesday’s incident proved the urgency of restarting the group.

“We believe this incident has highlighted the importance of resolving the sovereignty dispute over Diaoyutai. Japan is very clear on our stance and it is imperative that the two sides resume negotiations on the issue as soon as possible,” he said.

Ou said Tokyo is also very eager to settle the dispute before the situation worsens.

He backed the idea of the legislatures going to the Diaoyutais to reassert Taiwan’s claim over the chain.

Meanwhile, the DPP lashed out at the Ma administration for making Tsai a scapegoat.

DPP Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told a press conference that it did not make sense that Tsai, an executive director of the foreign ministry’s second-level unit, had the power to give orders to CGA.

Diplomacy and national defense fall within the authority of the president, Cheng said.

“The decision to order the vessel to leave should have been made by the president or the premier,” Cheng said. “Either it was because President Ma was out of loop regarding diplomatic and defense affairs, or it was because he was so irresponsible that the blame is being placed on a subordinate.”

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Thursday that the incident would test the consistency of Ma’s stance on Taiwan’s claim of sovereignty over the islands.

Ma has repeatedly said that the Diaoyutais are part of the Republic of China’s territory, and handling of this incident will be closely watched, Tsai said.

“Although we don’t expect him to act 100 percent according to what he has said in the past, there should at least be a certain level of consistency,” she said.

Tokyo said yesterday that it wanted to avoid damaging relations after Taiwan protested against the holding of a fishing boat captain and Taiwanese demonstrators converged in front of the de facto Japanese embassy in Taipei on Thursday, burning flags and demanding Japan release the captain, compensate the vessel’s owner and apologize for the incident.

Relations between Japan and Taiwan are generally good, although Japan formally recognizes China and not Taiwan.

“This matter should be dealt with in a way that does not damage the healthy development of ties with Taiwan,” a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said.

Taiwan, China and Japan all claim sovereignty over the Diaoyutais although Tokyo exerts control over the chain and claims sovereignty over the territorial waters.

The irony in all this is that the mainland, which technically supports Taiwan's claims on these islands, is now enjoying a renaissance with its relationship with Japan. So this comes in a very inconvenient time for the PRC.

I really don't believe calling up the PRC to help Taiwan is a good idea. I mean, if we do so we'll owe the PRC a favor and thats not something the demographic of Taiwan and not to mention the legislators in Taiwan want. Send a few Kidd destroyers there and mark our territory!

************************************************************************************** Country bashing remarks removed.
bd popeye super moderator

I do think that the M60 upgrade makes more sense than M1 tanks, considering how Japan with better infrastructure is going for lighter MBTs, getting 60+ ton tanks in hilly or mountainous environments is just asking for more headaches.

This is the Youtube video that shows a first hand eye account of the incident in camera. Judge for yourself if the collision is by accident or deliberately.

crobato said:

This is the Youtube video that shows a first hand eye account of the incident in camera.

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The quality of the video is terrible and I can't see a clear indication of what happened. I would appreciate a timestamp of the bit which shows the actual clash.

kliu0 said:

I really don't believe calling up the PRC to help Taiwan is a good idea. I mean, if we do so we'll owe the PRC a favor and thats not something the demographic of Taiwan and not to mention the legislators in Taiwan want. Send a few Kidd destroyers there and mark our territory!

Click to expand...

Well I would not be so quick to dismiss. As both ROC and PRC both share the claim to all Chinese territory. I am sure the PRC would be pleased to support the ROC claim in a strange form of self interest by proxy.

It could be one area of the twisted logic of cross straits relations, where unified rather than competing territorial claims on the numerous disputed Islands, could actually help clarify and resolve the issues.

The PRC is thinking help them now, we'll get Taiwan back united with us sooner or later. They can spend their military might and money to take that island back for us while all we do is say we support the ROC. Thats a smart way to handle things. But I believe for the interests of Taiwan we should not enlist the help of the PRC, I'm sure a few Kidd destroyers and some angry legislators would scare the Japanese away. XD

Look, my views on upgrades are if they get the job done and are cheaper then I fully support it. I actually don't think Taiwan should buy M1A2 tanks, I actually like the M60A3 better and after reading an issue of the Defense Technology Monthly I believe that they should upgrade, for Taiwan roads and bridges are not suited for the heavy M1A2 tanks (For training and for war = causes problems). Upgrades are cheaper and they provide the Taiwan military with more construction experience, more employment and can possibly lead to improvements within the defence industry.

I finished watching both parts of that video (above) on youtube, seems everyone is angry (legislators and the demographic) at the Japanese and that the government is doing nothing. Funny how the president was such an activist when he was young, now for the same thing he fought for he does nothing. Thats all I have to say.

Rumors and reports say that the Taiwanese government told the US to freeze the weapons and equipment, wonder how long the Taiwanese government is going stall for since the cross-strait talks have ended.