Taiwan hopes to join U.S.-Japan missile defense project
Taiwan hopes to join a joint missile defense project promoted by Japan and the United States in the future even though it understands the ”realistic difficulties” of doing so in view of problems with China, Taipei’s de facto envoy to the United States said in a recent interview.
Jaushien Joseph Wu also said Taiwan is very worried about China’s increasing military advantage, stressing that the missile threat is ”very serious.”
Wu, economic and culture representative to the United States, is known to be very close to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian. He assumed the Washington post in mid-April, the first person from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which takes a pro-independence stance, to do so.
Asked about the possibility of Taiwan joining the missile shield project, Wu said, ”Of course, the hope is there, but we also understand the realistic difficulties.”
While acknowledging that Taiwan’s participation is ”politically sensitive” as it may provoke China, Wu said it ”will be good for Japan and we are very glad that Japan is better protected from missiles because what we see is that Japan is not only threatened by North Korea but also (by) China.”
”And if Japan can be better protected, there can be further opportunities for Japan and Taiwan to work together in an urgent matter,” he said.
Expressing concern over Beijing’s growing military might, Wu said the military balance is shifting in China’s favor ”and it seems to be getting worse.”
”We have a very serious concern about that,” he said.
Wu also stressed the importance of implementing the 2001 agreement between the United States and Taiwan in which Washington promised to sell advanced arms to Taipei, including Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor systems and P3C anti-submarine patrol aircraft. It has stalled because the opposition National Party, or Kuomintang, strongly opposes including the purchase in Taiwan’s budget.
On China’s military buildup, Wu pointed out that China has increased the number of its combat fighters such as the Russian-designed Suhkoi 30 and the Suhkoi 27 models.
As a result, Taiwan’s air force does not have the capability to counter a Chinese air assault because the Taiwanese air force deploys the aging A and B models of F-16 fighters designed by the United States.
Wu also said that Taiwan has been trying to buy the newer C and D models of the F-16 fighter from the United States, but negotiations have become deadlocked because the 2001 arms agreement has not been implemented.
Wu estimated that more than 1,000 Chinese missiles are pointed at Taiwan. ”So we need to have the PAC3,” he said.
”This is the (situation) Taiwan faces in terms of cross-strait military balance,” he added.
”The American military experts continue to tell us that it takes only 12 to 16 submarines to have a blockade of Taiwan,” Wu said, which means the Chinese ”have more than what they need to blockade Taiwan already.”
Washington maintains a ”one-China” policy of recognizing Beijing as the sole government, while keeping informal contacts with Taipei and committing to sell arms for self-defense and defend the island from aggression under the Taiwan Relations Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1979.
But China has objected to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan based on a 1982 communique signed by Washington and Beijing in which the United States agreed to decrease arms sales to Taiwan over time.