When have they actually blocked progress on such shipments to Taiwan? I don't believe they have.
Perhaps not the State Department specifically, but the US attitude towards weapons sales - particularly the submarines - has not been exactly helpful. It seems fairly obvious that the US does not fully trust its 'ally' to keep American technology from the PRC - again, submarines are a big part of it. Just looking at this issue from a Taiwanese standpoint, they have been forced to run through a bureaucratic obstacle course when really the US should have just called the whole thing off or changed their stance drastically.
Taiwan has been trying to get submarines for quite some time... (since 1969, if I remember correctly) The US rejected the original request to lease 4 of them, but later agreed to sell 2 WWII subs. The Netherlands sold Taiwan 2 more advanced subs a decade later, but generally European nations have declined Taiwan's money. (China is obviously a more lucrative market)
Realistically only the US is available for weaponry - and I think there are several reasons why Taiwan will never operate another US sub, at least a half-modern one. I think most of us know that the US hasn't built diesel subs since the 60s, when the Navy made the nuclear transition. And for domestic reasons, it's quite possible that if Congress sees the diesel sub's cheaper price tag after American shipyards begin building conventional submarines, nuclear production *may* take a hit.
The US demanding the Taiwan legislature to commit to the originally 12 billion submarine program with upfront funding was simply lucrative. 8 top-notch European subs would go for roughly 5 billion.
In all likelihood Pacific Command simply doesn't want Taiwan to have submarines - the US probably expects it would have to intervene anyhow in the event of a full scale invasion, and Taiwanese subs in the strait would just hamper US ASW efforts. Giving Taiwan a price that was double the original expectations was basically the easiest way to kill the deal. Frankly it was pretty cruel... finally releasing submarines, and making it impossible for the LY to buy them. 130 of the LY had a clear position that crossed party lines - no local role, no appropriation of funds. No responsible legislature in the world would pay more than 10 billion US dollars for something that was not clearly defined - not when they don't know what they're getting.
Vlad, it is not ridiculous. I keep telling you, Taiwan doesn't have the budget for a huge order. More importantly, you're assuming the US would approve a sale that big - I don't think it would. I think Washington's policy is to sell in modest numbers so as to retain a level of influence over Taipei and not panic China, which might fear that a stockpile order was a prelude to conflict/constitutional change/etc.
The batch order method has also worked in Taiwan's favour so far, because now it has access to the C-7.
Seconded. While I'm not a fan of some stupid purchase decisions (like having 120 AMRAAMs for 150 F-16s) going by batches is the only realistic way to go. Given that it's been harder and harder economically for Taiwan to buy things (I think 2001 began its first negative GDP growth in history) it's hard to pass a huge military budget in the LY. And yes, the US is deathly afraid of "provoking" China so it tries to give Taiwan just enough to make China think twice, but not enough to actually be reliably effective.
