UPDATED : Friday, 16 June, 2017, 6:18pm
Taiwan has welcomed calls by lawmakers in the
United States for the Trump administration to speed up arms sales to the
island.
The calls came after the central American
nation Panama announced this week that it was switching ties from Taipei to
Beijing, dealing a political blow to the island.
The Taiwanese authorities, including the
foreign ministry and the Mainland Affairs Council, have expressed appreciation
for the call for speedier arms sales made by members of the US House of
Representatives during a meeting on US-Taiwan ties. They see it as a timely
boost as Beijing tries to woo away the island’s allies.
But analysts said the gesture of support and
recent remarks by the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary
James Mattis were more aimed at boosting confidence levels in Taiwan rather
than signalling concrete measures to help the island.
Ed Royce, the chairman of the US House
Foreign Affairs Committee, told the hearing in Washington on Thursday: “I
remain concerned about successive administrations’ delays in arms sales notification
for Taiwan, which have needlessly dragged out the arms sales process.”
Royce said he hoped to see regular
notifications in the future and looked forward to the announcement of new sales
this year.
US President Donald Trump is crafting a big
new arms package this year for Taiwan, which may include advanced rocket
systems and anti-ship missiles, unnamed US officials told the Reuters news
agency in March.
Previous reports said the package could be
larger than the US$1.8 billion arms sales authorised by former US president
Barack Obama at the end of his administration in December 2015, the first US
arms deal to the island in four years.
Tillerson said on Wednesday the Trump
administration was committed to the Taiwan Relations Act, which underscores the
US supply of defence equipment the island.
Mattis also said in his opening remarks at
the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum held in Singapore earlier this month
that his department remained steadfastly committed to working with Taiwan to
provide the defence equipment it needs.
Christine Hsueh, director of North American
affairs at Taiwan’s foreign ministry, called the remarks by the senior US
officials and congressmen “rather positive”, indicating the Trump
administration has “high intention to abide by its security commitment for
Taiwan”.
Chiu Chui-cheng, the vice-chairman of the
Mainland Affairs Council, said he hoped the US would continue to supply arms to
Taiwan in line with the Taiwan Relations Act.
“Our President Tsai Ing-wen has many times
called on the US side to supply appropriate arms for Taiwan in an effort to
maintain cross-strait and regional stability,” he said. “It is the obligation
for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to maintain cross-strait and regional
stability and we hope Beijing can seek to resolve our disputes through
dialogue.”
Beijing has suspended talks and any exchanges
with Taipei since Tsai from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive
Party took office in May last year.
She has refused to accept the 1992 consensus
– an agreement between the mainland and Taiwan which states that there is only
one China, but each side can have its own interpretation of what that means.
Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway Chinese province.
To step up pressure on Tsai’s government,
Beijing has wooed away the island’s allies, including Panama and the African
state of Sao Tome and Principe in December last year.
Beijing has also warned the US and other
countries against selling arms to Taiwan and previous American munitions sales
to the island have met with strong protests from the mainland.
Rupert Hammond-Chambers, the president of the
US-Taiwan Business Council, recommended at the meeting in Washington on
Thursday that Trump invite Taiwan to become a partner in the procurement
process for the F-35 stealth fighter programme, while simultaneously
integrating Taiwan’s industry into the aircraft’s supply chain.
Taiwan analysts said the remarks from
Tillerson and Mattis were not a firm signal that the Trump administration would
soon confirm new US arms sales to Taiwan.
“It can only show that the voice of support
for Taiwan is strong, but further discussion of the arms package between Taipei
and Washington are still needed,” said Andrew Yang, a former defence minister
in Taiwan and the secretary general of the China Council of Advanced Policy
Studies.
Yang said the two sides were likely to
discuss the arms package next month.
Source: scmp.com
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