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Lockheed should get decision on selling F-16s to Taiwan Posted Wednesday, Jul. 27, 2011 By Bob Cox rcox@star-telegram.com Thanks to some political horse-trading by Texas Sen. John Cornyn, Lockheed Martin should finally get a decision from the Obama administration later this year about selling F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week struck a deal with the Republican senator by agreeing to review Taiwan's requests to buy 66 new F-16s from Lockheed Martin as well as kits to upgrade its older-model fighter jets. Cornyn in turn agreed to release the hold he had placed blocking a...

Talk of the Day -- China's Su-27 crosses Taiwan Strait median line 2011/07/25 21:15:21 A Chinese Su-27 jet fighter crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait late last month while chasing a U.S. U-2S high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, a local newspaper reported Monday. It was the first time since President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May 2008 that a People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft had crossed the line down the middle of the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan and mainland China, the United Daily News (UDN) said. The Chinese warplane did not circle back to China until after two Taiwanese...

China’s military advantage over Taiwan is increasing amid Beijing’s attempts to block foreign forces from intervening in a possible conflict, the island’s defense ministry said Tuesday. The military balance between Taiwan and China has become a sensitive issue in the United States, which remains Taiwan’s major security partner despite shifting its recognition from Taipei to Beijing 32 years ago.

China’s omnivorous energy requirements have been attracting increasing attention as of late, as Beijing attempts to secure any and all sources of power for its growing industrial base. Nowhere is this more noticeable than Beijing’s policies in the South China Sea, where Chinese assertions of sovereignty are unsettling the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, all of whom have counter claims on the various shoals and islets. China’s landward neighbors are also feeling the hot breath of Beijing’s mandarins, however, most notably its economic rival India, with whom China fought a brief war in 1962 in the Himalayas over...

You're forgiven if you've forgetten what and where it is. After all, it's been out of the headlines for a long time. It's that island about 100 miles off the shore of China. It's the one the Obama State Department would just as soon see float out to sea, so that it would stop putting in those pesky requests for defensive arms that U.S. law calls for. It's been 32 years since Congress passed and then-President Carter signed the Taiwan Relations Act. It calls for us to sell sufficient arms to help Taiwan (formally known as the Republic of China)...

The over abundance of My Kingdom comes from the riches of your intimacy with Me(JESUS) in Glory , for I AM The Kingdom , The Glory and the Power and your Godhead ! So "BE" within My breath for My fullness to pour out of you and as you abide in "This" Holy Place I "shall" do the exceeding and manifest where you stand for I shall " BE " . For You can not practice what is "TRUE" , "ETERNAL" and "FLOWING" ! Matthew 6:13 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil...

Obama’s Taiwanese AF F-16 Debacle Friends and Enemies Reuben F. Johnson July 7, 2011 9:00 AM As Henry Kissinger used to say, at times it is more dangerous to be America’s friend than its enemy. Further confirmation of this sage observation came on June 24 when the Obama State Department blocked another request by Taiwan to purchase 66 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D fighter aircraft. These are badly needed by the Republic of China's air force to supplement an aging fleet of U.S., French and indigenously-built combat aircraft. The ROC's request for the F-16 purchase was officially been rejected three times between...

Taiwan 'tests sub-launched missile' (AFP) – 4 hours ago TAIPEI — Taiwan has testfired for the first time a locally developed submarine-launched missile designed to counter the threat of China's fast-expanding navy, a report Thursday. An unknown number of Hsiung Feng II (Brave Wind II) ship-to-ship missiles, developed by the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, were launched during a drill late last month, the Liberty Times said. The drill was part of the navy's five-year project to enhance the capabilities of two Dutch-built Sword Dragon class submarines acquired in the late 1980s, it said, citing an unnamed military...

Taiwan in stealth technology breakthrough: Report TAIPEI - TAIWAN has developed a radar-absorbent material in a breakthrough in the island's development of stealth technology, local media reported on Monday. Tests showed that a navy 50-tonne Seagull-class missile boat painted with the material was not spotted on a radar screen until it could be seen with the naked eye, the United Daily News said. It is the first time Taiwan has developed such material. The navy declined to comment on the report. It was not immediately clear if the material would be used in the navy's fleet of 10 locally manufactured...

OBJECTIVITY:The judge said the blogger should not have criticized the restaurant’s food as ‘too salty’ in general, because she had eaten dried noodles and two side dishesThe Taichung branch of Taiwan High Court on Tuesday sentenced a blogger who wrote that a restaurant’s beef noodles were too salty to 30 days in detention and two years of probation and ordered her to pay NT$200,000 in compensation to the restaurant. The blogger, surnamed Liu (劉), writes about a variety of topics — including food, health, interior design and lifestyle topics — and has received more than 60,000 hits on her Web...

Taiwan supersonic missile test flops (AFP) – 2 hours ago TAIPEI — Taiwan's defence ministry on Tuesday confirmed reports that a new supersonic anti-ship missile had missed its target during a routine naval drill, in the latest in a series of setbacks. Analysts say the Hsiung Feng (Brave Wind) III missile, designed to cruise at a maximum speed of Mach 2.0, or twice the speed of sound, and with a range of up to 130 kilometres (80 miles), is difficult to defend against. But the defence ministry said the weapon, the island's first locally developed supersonic anti-ship missile, had failed...

Taiwan upgrades its warplanes Jun 25, 2011, 15:05 GMT Taipei - Taiwan is to spend 17 billion Taiwan dollars (586 million US dollars) on upgrading its Indigenous Defence Fighter (IDF) warplanes, a newspaper reported Saturday. The Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) said it would unveil the 70 air force jets which have been modified on Thursday, the United Daily News reported. Taiwan has 130 warplanes. Modifications would give the jets double the carrying capacity for Sky-Bow missiles to four. The Taiwan Air Force fleet also consists of 150 F16A/Bs and 60 Mirage 2000-5s. According to the report, Taiwan fast-tracked the...

Taiwan to Lower Budget for F-16 Fighter Jets TAIPEI, Taiwan June 14, 2011 (AP) Taiwan to Lower Budget for F-16 Fighter Jets Taiwan's Defense Ministry has decided to slash the budget next year for procuring advanced F-16 C/D fighters jets from the U.S., a spokesman said Tuesday but added that Taipei remains determined to purchase the planes. The statement by Luo Shou-he followed a long delay in a U.S. decision on the sale as the Obama administration is reluctant to enrage China while it seeks Beijing's cooperation on various international economic and security issues. The move also reinforced the mixed...

Taiwan's AH-64 deal: a knife for a gunfight By Greg Waldron on June 13, 2011 Some years back I toured the USS Nimitz . Somebody in the group asked the officer showing us around about the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow launcher. "If it ever gets to the point we need to use that, we're already dead," he replied. The same could be said of last week's news that Taiwan will purchase 30 Boeing AH-64 Block III attack helicopters from the United States. There is little doubt about the Apache's effectiveness in combat over the last two decades in conditions where its...

Taiwan buys 30 AH-64 Apaches By Stephen Trimble Taiwan will receive 30 Boeing AH-64 Block III Apache helicopters under a new contract signed with the US government, a US Army official announced on 10 June. The order marks the latest show of US military support to Taiwan despite deep objections by China, and confirms the first international customer for the AH-64 Block III. Col Shane Openshaw, the army's AH-64 project manager, said Taiwan's first new-build helicopter will enter production in October, with the rest of the aircraft sprinkled through Boeing's production programme. ©RAF The AH-64 Block III deal is known...

Taiwan subs plan tests the waters By Jens Kastner TAIPEI - To help speed up a long-awaited arms deal, Taiwan has decided to accept a United States proposal that Taipei buy four diesel-electric submarines instead of eight, according to local media. The story is difficult to believe as submarines are the last weapons system Beijing wants the Taiwanese to get their hands on. Almost immediately after People's Liberation Army (PLA) Chief of General Staff Chen Bingde ended his recent high-profile visit to the US, Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) government-leaning China Times carried a report according to which Washington proposed and Taipei...

Outlook gloomy for Taiwan F-16 C/D deal By Greg Waldron Taiwan still hopes to acquire 66 Lockheed Martin F-16 C/Ds, but Washington appears reluctant to move the deal forward and offend China. Reports in Taiwan media have quoted Taiwan's ministry of national defence as saying it is still pushing to acquire the US aircraft, denying earlier reports that Taiwan was willing to accept a "watered down" deal for defence equipment from the USA. "The report is not true," the ministry has reportedly said. "The country's position to seek eight diesel-powered submarines and F-16C/Ds has never changed. The deal is still...

Could US policy abandon Taiwan? By John Copper / Wed, May 11, 2011 - Page 8 Recently there has been an unprecedented volume of talk, some of it serious, to the effect that the US will, and even should, end its responsibility of defending Taiwan. Foreign Affairs, the influential journal sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, not long ago published an article whose author suggested that Taiwan assume the role of Finland during the Cold War (ie, become a client or protectorate of China). A more recent article said the US should, given the rise of China, dump Taiwan....

Taiwan's health ministry says hospitals will be penalized for conducting gender selective abortions blamed for up to 3,000 aborted female fetuses last year. Deputy Health Minister Chiang Hung-che said Monday his department is investigating hospitals allegedly involved. Violators could have their licenses revoked. Another official, Chiou-Shu-ti, blamed gender-based abortions for Taiwan's high proportion of male births. That stands at 1.09 male births for every female born, as compared to the worldwide ratio of 1.06.

Taiwan deploys supersonic anti-ship missiles (AFP) – 5 hours ago TAIPEI — Taiwan has deployed a new supersonic missile on its warships in the latest response to China's rapid naval expansion, a lawmaker said Sunday. Military authorities are also mulling deploying the Hsiung Feng III -- the first locally developed supersonic anti-ship missile -- on mobile launchers, Lin Yu-fang, of the Kuomintang party, said in a statement quoting Vice Admiral Lee Hao. "Several types of warships have been armed with Hsiung Feng IIIs (Brave Wind)," the statement said. It was not clear how many missiles will be produced, but according...