US Line Up US$6 Billion Deal to Upgrade Taiwan’s Fighter Jets

The Obama administration will upgrade Taiwan’s existing fleet of F-16 fighter jets in a deal worth up to US$6 billion, said a senior US official to Reuters on Tuesday.

The decision came after Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou had previously requested for 66 new C/D models of the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters jets to replace its current A/B jets that were sold by the US to Taiwan in 1992.

The Obama administration will upgrade Taiwan’s existing fleet of F-16 fighter jets in a deal worth up to US$6 billion, said a senior US official to Reuters on Tuesday.

The decision came after Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou had previously requested for 66 new C/D models of the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters jets to replace its current A/B jets that were sold by the US to Taiwan in 1992.

However, US officials has since delayed the decision to sell Taiwan the new models in favour of upgrading the 145 F-16 A/Bs currently serving the Taiwanese air force.

According to the Wall Street Journal, US officials say that the upgrades will make Taiwan’s existing fighter jets as capable as the models they were requesting, while costing far less. However, most analysts see its decision as a form of compromise.

Under a bill passed by the US Congress in 1979, the US government is obliged to sell weapons to the island nation for its self-defence. However, China opposes weapons sales to Taiwan, as it still considers it to be one of its provinces. As such, the US government also fears political and economic repercussions from China if they were to sell Taiwan the newer C/D models.

Rep. Howard Berman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters that the decision was “only a half-measure” in modernising Taiwan’s military.

[quote]”Everyone, including this administration, acknowledges that the military balance across the Straits has tilted far too heavily toward China,” he said in a statement. “Taiwan needs more-advanced fighter aircraft to adequately defend itself against the continued and increasing Chinese military threat.”[/quote]

US Senator John Cornyn also described the deal as “not satisfactory” and intends to force the Obama administration to sell 66 new F-16 C/D jets to Taiwan by attaching a provision to a trade bill before the Senate.

[quote]“They are going to try and say that upgrading the current fleet is satisfactory, and that is not satisfactory,” said Cornyn to Bloomberg Businessweek.[/quote]

White House officials though are keen to counter the impression that Washington was going to cave in to Chinese pressure.

“First the US is profoundly committed to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and that commitment remains unwavering. Second, the scale and pace of defense article sales to Taiwan over the last two years is unprecedented,” said a senior official to AFP. “Weapons sales to Taiwan since 2009 will be greater than in the previous four years and they will be double the sales that occurred between 2004 and 2008.”

However, it is obvious that the US may not want to risk further damaging its relations with China. After the US agreed in early 2010 to sell Apache helicopters to Taiwan, China cut military ties for several months.

Speaking at a daily news briefing in Beijing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei also told reporters that China’s opposition to American arms sales to Taiwan had been “consistent and clear.”

Hong warned that US should “refrain from selling arms to Taiwan so as to avoid impairing bilateral relations as well as the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.”