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Friday, July 25, 2008

Nelson Report -- Still More on the Arms Freeze

The Washington insider Nelson Report doesn't often have remark on Taiwan, and yet here are two in a row that have stuff on Taiwan. This one comments on Wolfowitz's remarks the other day. Pay attention to that first sentence -- does it herald change?:

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TAIWAN ARMS...we can confirm that the Administration is in deep consultation over whether to approve an $11-billion arms package for Taiwan, and if so, when.

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, now president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, predicted in Taipei yesterday that President Bush is "close" to deciding to release what PACOM Adm. Tim Keating perhaps inadvertently last week seemed to indicate was a freeze, due to larger US-China relations and issues.

You can suspect that Wolfowitz was doing his job, and special pleading, and/or you can suspect that given his connections, he may know something the rest of us don't.

Our guess is he was promoting, not reporting, and that while there are those who argue Bush will announce the deal, then hope to "make up for it" with his Beijing Olympics' visit with China's Hu Jintao...that strikes us as are being a little too clever, as per the observations of a directly concerned Loyal Reader who supports the package:

"I think Hu is so concerned about domestic unrest and possible demos that any sign from Bush of bending Taipei's way would be more than Hu could handle.

Many, including me, think Hu is under pressure to show that his policy of 'no unification now' toward Taipei is a good policy. Ma's mantra 'no unification, no independence, no arms race' doesn't sit very well in Beijing. Even more so was Ma's statement that he didn't foresee unification 'in his lifetime.

This has Beijing nervous about giving any leeway to Taiwan for fear that the DPP might return, and that the DPP would pocket all concessions from China, and ask for more.

I worry, by the way, in all this arms 'delay' and optimism over the dialogue that is underway between Taipei and Beijing, that any signs of a DPP resurrection would make Beijing very belligerent.

That would risk the US being caught in a trap somewhat of its own making, ' troublemaker DPP/peacemaker KMT' - so you can't have that DPP be re-elected to power.'

But, as noted at the top, anyone who says they know the outcome of the Administration debate is exaggerating, we suspect. As we await a decision (and not making any announcement may BE the decision) here are some useful considerations we hear from other concerned observers, about points raised in recent Nelson Reports:

"I agree that the Bush Administration is not breaching the TRA. We are in a set of circumstances that the authors of the TRA did not contemplate. If the authors had been in this situation, they probably would be doing the same thing that the Administration is doing now. It's a bit more complicated than that, of course, but not as dire as some people are painting it."[MT: this Loyal Reader is wrong. The situation that the "authors of the TRA did not contemplate" -- the KMT-CCP lovefest -- is not the cause of the arms freeze. The arms freeze predates the current situation. The Bush Administration is full of it on this one. Whether the Bush administration is breaching the Taiwan Relations Act is a matter of one's values, but I don't think it is. It may be in violation of the spirit of the TRA, but the letter of the TRA clearly gives the President the right to do what he wants. Stupid to hand the executive so much power.]

Finally, a security concern you almost never hear "in public", from a directly involved Loyal Reader:

"It is curious that all the comments about accommodating China, Taiwanese politics, obligations under the TRA, etc. hardly mention one of the most important constraints on any arms transfers to Taiwan -- compromise of advanced systems/technologies. Leakage to China from Taiwan of US defense data is already evident.

The KMT's return brings us back to a long-standing assumption about Taiwan's eventual fate -- accommodation with China involving some trade-off of sovereignty for autonomy. If you acknowledge that (whether or not you like it), you must also recognize that US military systems transferred to Taiwan will in effect become transfers to China...something that would surely give pause to any US administrations considering arms sales to Taiwan.

This should not mean the end of US arms support for Taiwan, but it will certainly impact what gets transferred. Mature equipment like the F-16s and utility helicopters could and should be released. Speculation on Aegis systems should stop.

The submarine project -- misconceived from the beginning and all but unimplementable in reality -- should be shelved. Some systems, like PAC-3, will be challenging re. legitimate Taiwan defense needs vs. tech security.

These are the sort of issues on which policy makers and responsible Congressional attention must focus -- an approach to Taiwan's security that finds a sensible middle ground between the extreme swings that have characterized current administration actions."[MT: Actually, we hear this security concern all the time, most recently in the Manthorpe piece a few posts below.]

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4 comments:

  1. Ok, I've got a solution to unfreeze the arms deal....

    As you can read in this article Pakistan May Get U.S. Funds for F-16 Upgrade Fighter the reason given why Bush is approving the fighter jets to Pakistan is "The bottom line here is we've shifted money to help the democratically elected government of Pakistan to fight a common foe.'' (al- Qaeda and Taliban).

    So the solution seems to be that the R.O.C. needs to get in on the action. A simple solution that would solve two problems (arms acquisition and urban upgrade) would be to have a few safely planned false flag operations happen in Taipei. Specially, we can get rid of some of Taipei's poorly planned eyesores such as the Nanjing W. Rd foodcourt, the TMS front plaza remodel and the new, incredibly stupid design of Bitan recreation area. (my first impression from last Sunday - mainly no shade, no seats, sloppy work, bottlenecks for people flow, water dropoff unsafe for kids, etc.)

    Seriously though, I wonder why Bush (well, not really Bush, but the principals committee) are sending arms to Pakistan? From what I read, its seems to be first on the list for an attack when OHB comes to power (or sooner). Something else strange that happened just the other day was the assassination of the only eyewitness to the Bhutto assassination.

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  2. Is the term "mature equipment" similar to the term "mature lady" in a personal ad?

    There will always be the risk of technology leak in any arms transfer but I don't recall any actual case of US technology leak to the PRC from Taiwan. In the only actual cases of US defense technology going to the PRC that I know of, the conduits were Israel and Pakistan. In other words, fear of Taiwanese disloyalty, to the extent it is a genuine fear rather than a convenient cover, is overblown.

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  3. 'China should release Tibetan prisoners'

    http://news.theage.com.au/world/china-should-release-tibetan-prisoners-20080726-3lai.html

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  4. I am glad that there will be an "arm freeze". American government has always "made" Taiwanese pay 3 or 4 times market price for crappy and outdated weapons anyway. What should Taiwanese keep wasting money?

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