Source: Privy Council No. 10
The situation between Russia and Ukraine remains tense, and the United States has announced a new round of arms sales to Taiwan.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on the 5th that it had approved the sale of the "Patriot Project Personnel Technical Assistance Case" to Taiwan, with a total price of US$95 million (approximately NT$2.724 billion). DSCA stated in a press release that Taiwan requested the purchase of technical assistance support, including the maintenance, operation and planning of the "Patriot" air defense system, equipment and logistics, and the main contractor was Raytheon Company . The United States also said that the proposed arms sales would help Taiwan maintain its missile density and contribute to regional political stability, military balance, economy and progress. "Taiwan can use it to deter regional threats and strengthen the defense of its homeland." It is self-evident who it is aimed at.
The Democratic Progressive Party authorities, like before, have a lot of departments jumping out to express gratitude. Taiwan's "Presidential Office" expressed "sincere gratitude", saying that this not only once again demonstrated the "rock-solid" partnership between Taiwan and the United States, but also fully demonstrated that the U.S. government attaches great importance to Taiwan's "defense" needs. Taiwan's "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" and "Ministry of Defense" stated that they are grateful to the U.S. government for its continued implementation of the "Taiwan Relations Act" and the "Six Assurances" for Taiwan's security commitments.
This is the third arms sales to Taiwan during the Biden administration and the second this year. Previously, on February 7 this year, DSCA announced the approval of the project service plan for the sale of "Patriot" missiles to Taiwan. The United States continues to send technical representatives to Taiwan to evaluate and maintain the "Patriot" with a budget of US$100 million. It is an arms sales case related to the "Patriot" missile like the one in April. The difference is that the arms sales in February were mainly equipment and services for the missile engineering service and effectiveness testing plan, while this time the arms sales were dispatched Professionals come to Taiwan to provide technical support.
Taiwan's "Patriot 2" missiles were purchased through commercial sales in 1996. At that time, only three systems were purchased. Later, in 2007, they were converted to arms sales "Jianfeng Project" to purchase additional "Patriot 3" systems. , and improved the performance of the original "Patriot 2". The arms sales amount announced by the US DSCA was US$5.8 billion, breaking the Taiwan-US military procurement record at the time. In March last year, Taiwan's "Ministry of Defense" confirmed that Taiwan and the United States decided to purchase additional "Patriot 3" extended-range missiles after discussions, and planned to complete delivery and deployment in batches from 2025 to 2026.
Jie Zhong, an adjunct assistant professor at the Institute of Strategy at Tamkang University in Taiwan, analyzed that it is not ruled out that the United States will send advance personnel through the April arms sale to carry out system improvements on the Taiwan military's existing "Patriot" missiles and establish basic maintenance and training platforms. Military personnel and other energy are required to facilitate the smooth operation of the "Patriot 3" extended-range missile. Taiwanese military scholar Su Ziyun believes that the "Patriot" missile can militarily block the People's Liberation Army's "first strike" against Taiwan and protect Taiwan's key infrastructure.
Lin Yingyou, a scholar at Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, pointed out the key to this arms sale. He said that many people will question "Taiwan can develop its own research and development, so why should it buy it from the United States?" However, the advantage of using US-made weapons is that "it can share data links with the United States. For example, it can be observed how and Ukrainian pass through in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. NATO and the data provided by the United States are fighting against Russia." Lin Yingyou also said that whether the United States will share data links is one thing, but if it does not use the US system, once something happens in the Taiwan Strait, it may affect the smoothness of the US providing data to assist operations.
The mainland reacted strongly to the US-Taiwan arms sales. At a press conference on the 6th, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian criticized the relevant actions of the United States that seriously undermined China's sovereignty, Sino-US relations, and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and seriously violated the one-China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiqués especially the " August 17 Communique ", China firmly opposes this and strongly condemns it. He asked the U.S. to cancel the above-mentioned arms sales plan, stop arms sales to Taiwan and U.S.-Taiwan military contacts, and said that China will take resolute and powerful measures to resolutely defend its sovereignty and security interests.
Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, responded in writing on the 6th that the DPP authorities colluded with external forces to pursue "independence" provocations and attempted to "reject reunification with force." They used the hard-earned money of Taiwan compatriots to buy weapons and seek political selfishness. It will push Taiwan compatriots step by step into the fire pit.On February 21 this year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced countermeasures against the actions of Raytheon Technologies and Lockheed Martin, the US military industrial companies that have long been involved in the sale of weapons to Taiwan.
Since the United States "severed diplomatic relations" with Taiwan in 1979, the United States has made more than 100 arms sales to Taiwan, including more than a dozen during Trump alone, with a total amount of more than 20 billion U.S. dollars; Since Biden took office, It has also announced arms sales to Taiwan three times. Huge arms sales have become a heavy burden on the people of Taiwan. Take the "Patriot" missile as an example. Not counting arms sales expenses, only three missile sites were built in Taipei, and the money spent was calculated in tens of billions of New Taiwan dollars; Test-firing in Taiwan is not allowed yet. If you want to go to the United States, you will be subject to restrictions everywhere. United News Network 6 couldn't help but question, in the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, what is the significance of this arms sales case, or is it more publicity than substance?
Taiwan's future lies in national reunification. Those "empty promises" from external forces are ultimately unreliable. If you are willing to be a "chess piece" for others, you will not escape the fate of being an "abandoned piece" in the end. A poll recently released by Taiwan showed that only 35% of respondents believed that the United States would send troops to help defend if a conflict broke out in the Taiwan Strait, a sharp decrease of 30.5% from October last year. It can be said that most Taiwanese people do not believe that the United States will fight tooth and nail for Taiwan.
