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President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-Jeou

Apr 22, 2009
Kyodo News

TAIPEI, April 22 (AP) – (Kyodo)—Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, in a rare teleconference on Wednesday with a U.S. think tank, urged the United States “to not hesitate” on sensitive arms sales to the island, an appeal that came as Taipei seeks to buy advanced fighter aircraft from Washington.
“We need high-performance jet fighters to replace our aging F-5s and other less sophisticated arms,” Ma said, referring Taipei’s repeated requests for F-16C/Ds from Washington, which has balked at kick- starting the procurement process for the aircraft because of pressure from China.

Ma made the remarks in Taipei in a teleconference hosted by former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage with the Washington- based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Some 60 U.S.-made F-5 aircraft, slated for retirement in five years, comprise a large part of Taiwan’s air force.

“I urge the United States to not hesitate to provide Taiwan with the necessary defensive arms as stipulated in the TRA,” Ma said, referring to the Taiwan Relations Act, the 1979 U.S. legislation that obligates Washington to provide the island with arms of a defensive nature.

Ma called the act, whose 30th anniversary was April 10, the “cornerstone” of U.S.-Taiwan relations, with “U.S. arms sales…central to our relations.”

A “gross military imbalance” across the Taiwan Strait, Ma said, “justifies serious consideration by the U.S. of arms sales to Taiwan” — a reference to China’s growing military, with the mainland deploying more than 1,000 ballistic and cruise missiles against the island.

Despite a significant warming of cross-strait relations since Ma took office last year, China, which considers Taiwan a rebel province awaiting unification, continues to prepare for an attack on the island should it formalize its de facto sovereignty.

According to the U.S. Defense Department, about one-third of China’s military’s resources are geared toward attacking Taiwan –a build-up that has Taipei scrambling to spur Washington to sell it F-16s and other weaponry.

For its part, Washington has been reluctant to move on Taipei’s bid for the fighters for fear of upsetting Beijing as U.S.-China relations increasingly dominate U.S. foreign policy objectives.

But Ma sought to assuage Washington, saying the decision of then President George H.W. Bush to sell Taiwan 150 F-16A/Bs in 1992 did not derail cross-strait negotiations.

A budding detente between Taipei and Beijing, he said, continued despite the sale, only to be dashed later by other factors.

“Don’t worry about jeopardizing your relations with China,” Ma said.

Warming cross-strait ties, he added, have in turn improved Taiwan’s relations with Japan, as increasing stability in the strait translates into renewed confidence in bilateral relations between Taipei and Tokyo.

Ma cited a future reciprocal “working vacation” visa program for youth from both sides, plans for new Taiwanese representative offices in Japan, plans for direct flights between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Taipei’s Songshan Airport, museum exchanges and bilateral fishery talks as examples of improved atmospherics in Taiwan-Japan relations.