Taiwan’s New Jets May Not Fly; Reaction Mixed

wsj ^ | September 16, 2011, 8:51 PM HKT | Staff

[Rabin]

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the U.S. will make a decision on whether or not to accept a Taiwan letter of request for 66 new F-16 C/Ds. Analysts have tipped the U.S. to opt to upgrade Taiwan’s 146 aging F-16 A/Bs instead of providing 66 new F-16 C/D jets that Taiwan had requested. A person familiar with the matter told China Real Time that some in the Taiwan military don’t necessarily want the new F-16 C/Ds. The person said... diesel-electric submarines are more effective deterrents, particularly to China’s rising naval might.

I do think the C/Ds and A/Bs, they are… a minimum necessity because if you want to really fight the PLA air force fighters, there’s no way you can win quantitatively, we are inferior. Therefore [the new jets] are qualitative…to give us some confidence in deterring the Chinese.

[Rabin]

Taiwan's air force was considered superior to that of China as recently as 10 years ago, but today its F-16 A/Bs, Dassault Mirage 2000s and Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation Ching Kuo Indigenous Defence Fighters are increasingly opposed by modern Chinese air force types such as the Chengdu J-10, Shenyang J-11 (a copy of the Sukhoi Su-27), and the Sukhoi Su-30

R.

[PGR88]

The Taiwanese should do what the Swiss do - send every discharged soldier home with his rifle. Bring them back every couple of years for a short time for inspection and some training.

They may not even constitute a proper militia or reserve, but several million armed Taiwanese would make even Communists think twice.

[Rabin]

Taiwan autonomy and independence is the Nationalist objective here, but Taiwan to China is but a stone in it’s boot. Control of the South China Sea, then Pac shipping lanes is the first up, line up.

R.

[DesertRhino]

The Nazis left the Swiss alone. And the Soviets got bloodied badly by the Finns.
Some laugh,, but a population universally armed with accurate rifles at home is the ultimate military for defense of a nation.
It is less useful for foreign adventures,,, but to protect from invaders, it’s nightmarish to be on the wrong end of.

[Tainan]

Trust me on this...You, nor anyone else, do NOT want the general populace of Taiwan armed.
This is a culture that has somehow by-passed the gene of personal responsibility and/or accountability for their actions.

As an NRA life member since 1960 and a strong 2nd Amendment activist in the U.S.A., I do NOT want to see the general populace of Taiwan with access to guns.

This ain't Switzerland.

[PGR88]

Your name gives it away!

I have been to Taiwan myself, and arming the Taiwanese is indeed an off-the-wall idea, definitely not something one sees in Asia. Would it work? I don’t know - perhaps not. My point is though is that in the long run, it is culture that makes a country independent. Things like F-16’s are minor tactical objects

If Taiwanese can’t summon their common identity and will to defend itself as a seperate country (and I think they can not), then it will get swallowed up by China.

China is smart to play the economic waiting game that it is. It is steadily pulling Taiwan back. How many Taiwanese live in just Shanghai now? 500,000? How many millions are living in China altogether?

[EdisonOne]

Damn it! Sell them those darn planes!!!

Looky here’ah: If they turn to buying J-10’s, J-11B’s, J-15’s, and J-20’s instead, we in the West will be in deep sh*ts :)... More humor Guys :)...

After all, with tensions lowering between the Ma team (aka Qaddafi equivalents of Taiwan), what needs are there for F-16’s C&D’s unless the Ma-team-aka-Qaddafi-equivalents of Taiwan is anticipating an onslaught by the Tsai Ing-wen cligue aka-libya-rebel-equivalence in same :)???

Metaphors, metaphors, folks :)... Simple metaphors...