An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon from Eielson Air Force Base flies in formation over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex, July 18, 2019. (Staff Sgt. James Richardson/Air Force)
National Interest: Taiwan Wants Billions of Dollars Worth of U.S. F-16 Fighters. It's a Waste of Time.
China possesses hundreds of more modern fighters than Taiwan does. Sixty-six F-16s won’t change that. And Taipei already has begun to revamp its defensive strategy to de-emphasize the importance of conventional major weapons systems such as F-16s.
Nearly a decade after first requesting them, the Taiwanese air force finally could get 66 new F-16 fighters to begin replacing some of its older fighter aircraft.
But the $8-billion fighter-acquisition, which the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump approved over strong objections from China, likely will do little to alter the overall balance of power across the Taiwan Strait.
Read more ....
Update: Taiwan F-16 sale officially cleared by Trump administration (Defense News)
WNU Editor: I disagree with the above analysis. Taiwan's focus is to make any Chinese invasion of its territory a very costly affair. The purchase of 66 fighters .... which I believe will be the first of many arms purchases .... will do just that. There is also the political message that is being sent out, which is the U.S. sending a message to everyone in Asia that they will stick with Taiwan. This is what America's other allies in Asia want to see. Not surprising, the Chinese are well aware of what this means, and they are objecting and threatening accordingly .... China threatens sanctions over US-Taiwan F-16 fighter plane deal (BBC).
10 comments:
Note the model; F-16s. My God, it's loaded with new tech. Good purchase!
Good purchase, ownership of which could well switch to China when and if.
PRC creates its own problems.
Bob Huntley, our erstwhile Chicomm advocate.
"Good purchase, ownership of which could well switch to China when and if."
Howard Zinn is that you?
Bob is quite the anti-American shyster is he not?
Blowback from the South China Sea base building treaty abrogation. For a poke in the eye the size of a mature redwood tree to xi-boy, placing a battalion of US troops rotating every year so the rotation can be claimed to be an annual "training exercise".
Yah see how it works xi, not that you didn't know. Takes two to tango and you've just met multiple dance partners all along or near your borders.
What a pushy character, this xi. That behavior worked with the cadaverous Johnny K and the savior of the known universe and beyond, retired after 8 long and tedious years, but now the apple cart has neither wheels or bottom for your fruit peddling.
My advice, sir, is go live in one of your "ghost cities".
Nobody wants to admit that what we're really talking about is an unresolved issue from the 1949 civil war. I once heard Taiwanese representatives testifying to a US Congressional committee that the basis for Taiwanese independence dated back to 1895. Do you'all know what they were referring to? the 1894-5 Sino-Japanese War, Japan's first war of aggression against China. Clearly before that, Taiwan was a Chinese province and it was only because of Japanese aggression and the 1949 civil war that it was separated from China. It seems to me that the best line of approach would be to let the Chinese on both sides of the strait resolve this problem rather than interjecting US ideological proclivities into it.
Carl, I think the Chinese are settling things out amongst themselves. In the case of Taiwan, with a little help from their friends, as the Beatles once sang.
And who is the legitimate government after their civil war? The tens of millions killed by the communist government after they took over didn't get to vote, did they. I think they would have voted against Mao, given the chance. They and their families. And as far as I know no one got to vote in a manner that would be considered legitimate, it was a matter of might makes right. That's pretty much how communism spread, after WWII, as you know. And now things have changed in prior communist countries, most communist governments are gone. Voted out and you know that also. I also have a feeling the free world is welcomed in Taiwan and not Xi. So therefore I think your choice of verbs, interjecting, is a bit on the fuzzy side unless you feel our wartime aid and sacrifice to the then recognized government of China prior to the ascension of Mao is "interjecting".
I once lived for years in a primarily Chinese neighborhood in Hacienda Heights in SoCal. There was no love for the communists then and 25 years later I think that feeling is still there for those old enough to have experienced that era.
The communists Chinese had been supported by the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1945, the Russians gave the communists captured Japanese equipment. The communists were never elected. The conquered China and the Russians were the military advisors, logisticians and armorers.
The Nationalist have more legitimacy than the communists. We sided with the nationalists, the legitimate government in WW2 against the Japanese. That you want to say it is internal and abandon an ally is noted.
I don't like people, who are obdurately stupid. It is like being shackled to a corpse. But there are ways of getting a divorce.
One measure for example is for red states like West Virginia to disconnect from the national electric grid and when wind, solar and unicorn farts cannot supply shifting energy demands, you go without A/C, heat, water, internet etc.
Balancing supply and demand is harder than you think and placing a straw, a brick or a tons of liberal nonsense can break the grid. The whole state of Texas can disconnect from the grid, be fine and let California swirl down the toilet into the 3rd world.
If liberals want stupid foreign policy (like having stupid energy policies) such as abandoning allies with great abandon, we can get some sort Red State Exit. You can learn how to speak Mandarin and whimper.
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