The United States has agreed to sell Taiwan 66 F-16C/D warplanes to boost Taipei’s self defence against China, a newspaper said on Monday.
Tsai Ming-shien, former deputy secretary general of the National Security Council, closed the deal on the F-16C/D warplanes early this month in California during annual Taiwan-US defence meetings, the so-called Monterey Talks, the China Times quoted an unnamed military source as saying.
”The talks touched on Taiwan Air Force’s need for advanced warplanes to fill the gap between now and the arrival of the third-generation warplanes. The US approved the sale of 66 F-16C/C block 52 jets worth $120-billion Taiwan dollars ($3,6-billion),” the daily said.
”Delivery of the F-16C/Ds will begin in 2011 at the earliest,” the source said.
Taiwan sought to buy 150 F-16C/Ds in 1999, but the US agreed only to sell Taiwan F-16A/Bs because the US considered F-16A/Bs offensive weapons and feared the sale would anger China. The F-16C/D has stronger attack power and longer flight range.
As a result, Taiwan ordered 150 F-16A/Bs from the US and 60 Mirage 2000-5s from France.
It has been several years since Taiwan took delivery of the F-16A/Bs and Mirage 2000-5s, so the Taiwan Air Force decided to buy F- 16C/Ds while waiting to introduce its third-generation fighter jets.
The US approved the sale of the 66 F-16C/Ds because Russia has sold SU-30 fighter jets, and the US wants Taiwan to maintain the military balance in the Taiwan Strait.
For its third-general warplane, Taiwan hopes to buy JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) jets from the US, though it may take Taiwan many years to get Washington to approve the purchase, analysts said.
The US dropped diplomatic relations with Taiwan to recognise China in 1979, but signed the Taiwan Relations Act pledging to continue to sell defensive arms to Taiwan despite Beijing’s demand that Washington terminate arms sales to Taipei. – Sapa-DPA