While the U.S. has committed itself to providing Taiwan the means to defend against a Chinese attack -- something the mainland has threatened if the island moves to make its de facto independence permanent -- it knows that doing so would undermine its ability to improve ties with China and to secure Chinese help on pressing issues such as North Korean nuclear proliferation.
China sees the F-16 issue "as an opportunity to pressure America into downgrading the U.S. commitment to Taiwan," said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, head of a U.S.-Taiwan business group whose members include arms manufacturers. "If they can pressure America into saying no or not saying yes, U.S. policy will have taken a big step toward China's position on arms sales."
For the time being, the Obama administration is addressing the Taiwan defense dilemma by deciding not to decide. Mindful of Beijing's incensed reaction to its early 2010 approval of a $6.4 billion Taiwan arms package, it has shown no interest in a reprise. ...
A senior Taiwanese legislative aide privy to negotiations on the F-16s says that despite support from the Pentagon, opposition to the sale of the advanced F-16s is coming from the State Department, which remains concerned that it would anger China.
Taiwan is already free. It is easier to defend what we have than it is to promote it where it is absent.
If it is possible for our Navy to operate from a bastion just east of Taiwan, Taiwan needs those planes and upgrades to their existing early model F-16s in order to keep Chinese planes from reaching our ships.
