After the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021" on the 28th, the Senate also passed the bill on the 11th, which includes "assisting Taiwan to maintain its self-defense capabilities" and so on. At present, this bill only needs to be sent to the White House and signed by President Trump to take effect. After Trump receives the bill, he has 10 days to consider whether to sign or exercise his veto to return the bill to Congress.
In response to the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the U.S. Senate, some green politicians are trying to "steal their own weight by relying on foreign countries." Green media on the island have even loudly declared that this is "anti-China and Taiwan protection," but completely "ignore" what the bill says. "Assisting Taiwan to maintain its self-defense capabilities" is inevitably inseparable from Taiwan's large-scale military purchases from the United States.
On December 11, when Su Tseng-chang, the head of Taiwan’s administrative agency, went to Taiwan’s legislative body for consultation, Wen Yuxia, a representative of the Chinese Kuomintang, pointed out that since Tsai Ing-wen came to power, the total amount of 11 purchases of the US military will exceed NT$560 billion. By next year The (cumulative) amount may exceed NT$700 billion, and the peak of payments will be in 2022. Will it crowd out other budgets? In response, Su Zhenchang admitted that "the burden is a little heavier."
It is rare that Su Zhenchang told the truth for once, and it is not difficult to understand the "heavy burden". Not long ago, Li Yingjie, director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan, attended a seminar and said that the amount of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan this year reached 11.8 billion U.S. dollars (breaking Taiwan’s record for the highest amount of U.S. military purchases in a single year). Taiwan has become the United States’ largest foreign military sales customer in the world.
Such a huge arms purchase will of course crowd out other economic and people's livelihood budgets. For Taiwan, whose economy is not large, the burden will be more than "heavy"?
Some Taiwanese media have calculated an account. From 2019 to 2020, Taiwan spent US$16.56 billion on purchasing US weapons, which is equivalent to NT$505.27 billion. If calculated based on Taiwan’s population of 23.57 million, it is equivalent to Taiwan’s per capita burden of 2.2 Ten thousand NT dollars, not counting other defense budgets.
In fact, Taiwan's per capita GDP in 2019 was US$25,920, or NT$730,000. This means that every Taiwanese person earns an average of NT$50, and 1 Yuan was used to purchase US arms.
Among Trump’s 11 arms sales to Taiwan during his presidential term, the types of weapons covered all combat fields including sea, land, air and space. Compared with previous U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the weapons sold to Taiwan by Trump show three characteristics: obvious offensive nature, the emergence of high-end drones for the first time, and a large number of new types of equipment.
On December 7, local time in the United States, the United States announced a new round of arms sales to Taiwan, including 154 communication nodes, 24 relay systems, 8 network management systems, and personnel training for field information and communication systems. , logistics maintenance and other related resources, with a total price of US$280 million. Some experts pointed out that Trump's arms sales to Taiwan at this time are obviously his "final madness" and an attempt to use his "last effort" to undermine Sino-US relations and cross-strait relations.
In response to the recent frequent "Taiwan-U.S. collusion", Hong Kong's China Review News Agency commented that "Taiwan-U.S. relations" have heated up dramatically in recent years. The U.S. has introduced Taiwan-related bills one after another, and received more and more commitments. Taiwan's role as a pawn has been highlighted. But looking back, what has Taiwan gained? What you get is mostly virtual, but what you pay is real. However, the increase in arms purchases has not only failed to make Taiwan safer. On the contrary, it has made Taiwan even less secure and exposed to more risks and uncertainties. Analysts say that some arms purchases were forcefully promoted by the United States and may not necessarily be what Taiwan needs. They paid a huge price and were taken advantage of, and they still have to thank others.How embarrassing it is!
In response to the United States’ frequent arms sales to Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying once pointed out that China’s position on the issue of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan is consistent and clear. The United States’ sales of arms to Taiwan seriously violates the one-China principle and The three Sino-US joint communiqués , especially the "August 17th" communiqué, stipulated that they grossly interfered in China's internal affairs, seriously damaged China's sovereignty and security interests, sent a wrong signal to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, and seriously damaged Sino-US relations and peace across the Taiwan Strait. stability, China is firmly opposed to this. For more content on , please pay attention to Southeast TV's "Straits Shinkansen" broadcast at 22:03 tonight!
