By Hua Zhang
For many years, the US, on the excuse of strengthening Taiwan's "asymmetrical military capacities" against the Chinese mainland, has kept selling weapons to the island in blatant violation of the three China-US Joint Communiqués. But the fact is that the pricey military equipment that American arms dealers sold to Taiwan are usually outdated versions eliminated by the US itself. A recent report from the US has hurt the feelings of the Taiwanese and triggered a surge of verbal bombardments against the DPP authorities.
According to Taiwan media reports on September 14, a recent report from the US Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) showed that the military assistance supplies provided by the White House to Taiwan using the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) last December couldn’t be used, including 2.7 million bullets produced in 1983 and over 3,500 sets of moldy armors and bulletproof vests due to moisture. Besides, the packaging of the ammunition was disordered without strictly separating original ones, alternatives, and bulk ammunition, making counting and management difficult.
Last July, the US announced its use of PDA to provide US$345 million worth of military assistance to the Taiwan region, which the DPP's so-called "foreign and defense departments", and the Green experts and media "welcomed" and "hailed" on a high profile, calling it a "major breakthrough". What an irony looking back now!
Not only is the US dumping useless weapons and equipment upon Taiwan, but it sees it as an ATM for its military-industrial complexes to make hay with. For instance, the US$750 million arms deal announced by the White House in August 2021 included 40 M109A6self-propelled guns each quoted at US$18.5 million. Sivkov Konstantin, a leading Russian specialist in military, strategic and geopolitical affairs, pointed out that the US Army's MBT M1A2Abrams is only US$7 million in the market, how come the M109A6, the mass production of which stopped 20 years ago, is twice more expensive? What's even more ironic – and pathetic – is that the Tsai Ing-wen team, as always, expressed boundless gratitude to the US side for their weapons.
America's arms sales to Taiwan in the name of enhancing the island's self-defense capabilities are ripping off the Taiwan people, and the DPP is a knowing accomplice. Since its re-election, the DPP has been increasing its defense budget every year from 2% to 2.5% of GDP between 2017 and 2023, and the budget in 2024 almost doubled from eight years ago to reach 606.8 billion TWD (US$19 billion). Most of the money has flowed into the pocket of American arms dealers buying their "useless weapons".
A White House spokesperson once said bluntly that the US had never done charity in Taiwan, and the Taiwan authorities have been buying American weapons and equipment for decades to support America's manufacturing, industry and technology. But Washington is still not satisfied. Not long ago, former US President and the Republican's current presidential candidate Trump slammed Taiwan for stealing America's chip industry, and his former security advisor Robert O'Brien continued to urge the Lai Ching-te authorities to consider raising their military spending to more than 5% of GDP.
The DPP authorities' bottomless fawning has heightened America's expectations. The further they stray down the path of the so-called "Taiwan independence", the more checks they will sign to please the US government and arms dealers, who, however, will only get more insatiable. The DPP authorities' unconditional acceptance of American "leftovers", even using Taiwan people's hard-earned money to purchase overpriced, outdated, useless weaponry, will only fuel the American military-industrial complex's voracity without bringing true security to the Taiwan region.
Editor's note: Originally published on china.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of m.jmhuiquan.com.
