"Taiwan has wished to acquire the F16 C/D fighter jets as soon as possible to replace its aging F5 fleet and ensure its aerial safety," a presidential statement quoted Ma as saying.
Ma made the plea to Raymond Burghardt, the Washington-based chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, amid growing concern here that the balance of power with China is shifting in favour of the mainland.
This isn't a silver bullet solution to Taiwan's defense problems. A lot of things go into a proper air defense. But it is an important part. Without air superiority, China will have difficulty landing troops on Taiwan either by air or sea, and supplying them once on land.
It is distressing that in the early days of the Bush administration when we were far more willing to sell Taiwan arms, Taiwan dithered. And now that the Taiwanese are belatedly eager to reverse the shifting power balance in the strait, Washington Under both Bush and Obama) thinks the sales interfere with biggeer priorities.
UPDATE: Strategypage has more on this. Chinese pressure is even working on us--as it has long worked on Europeans for years now--to stop Taiwan from arming up. Taiwan needs modern fighters. I bet Taiwan will eventually get the F-16s they want.
But in the long run, China's successful pressure tactics on Washington means Taiwan needs to be able to build their own fighters capable of taking on the best China can send against them.
One day Taiwan will decide nukes are the only way to protect themselves if we won't sell them the weapons they need. Is this what we really want?
