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Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990
Shirley A. Kan
Specialist in Asian Security Affairs
December 11, 2014
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RL30957

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Summary
This report, updated through the 113th Congress, discusses U.S. security assistance to Taiwan
(calling itself Republic of China (ROC)), including policy issues for Congress and legislation.
Congress has oversight of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), P.L. 96-8, which has governed arms
sales to Taiwan since 1979, when the United States recognized the People’s Republic of China
(PRC) instead of the ROC. The U.S.-ROC Mutual Defense Treaty terminated in 1979. Two other
relevant parts of the “one China” policy are the August 17, 1982, U.S.-PRC Joint Communique
and the “Six Assurances” to Taiwan. U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have been significant. The United
States also expanded military ties with Taiwan after the PRC’s missile firings in 1995-1996.
At the last U.S.-Taiwan annual arms sales talks on April 24, 2001, President George W. Bush
approved for possible sale diesel-electric submarines, P-3 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft
(linked to the submarine sale), four decommissioned U.S. Kidd-class destroyers, and other items.
Bush also deferred decisions on Aegis-equipped destroyers and other items, while denying other
requests. Afterward, attention turned to Taiwan, where the military, civilian officials, and
legislators from competing political parties debated contentious issues about how much to spend
on defense and which U.S. weapons to acquire, despite the increasing threat (including a missile
buildup) from the PRC’s military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The Pentagon also has
broadened its concern from Taiwan’s arms purchases to its defense spending, seriousness in self-
defense and protection of secrets, joint capabilities, deterrence, operational readiness, critical
infrastructure protection, and innovative, asymmetrical advantages. Blocked by the Kuomintang
(KMT) party in the Legislative Yuan (LY) that opposed the Democratic Progressive Party’s
(DPP’s) president (2000-2008), the Special Budget (not passed) for submarines, P-3C ASW
aircraft, and PAC-3 missile defense systems was cut from $18 billion in 2004 to $9 billion (for
submarines only) in 2005. In March 2006, Taiwan’s defense minister requested a Supplemental
Defense Budget (not passed) in part for submarine procurement, P-3Cs, and PAC-2 upgrades (not
new PAC-3 missiles). In June 2007, the LY passed Taiwan’s 2007 defense budget with funds for
P-3C planes, PAC-2 upgrades, and F-16C/D fighters. In December 2007, the LY approved $62
million to start the submarine design phase. After the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou became President in
May 2008, he resumed cross-strait talks, reduced tension, and retained the arms requests.
However, Ma has failed to invest in defense at the bipartisan goal of budgeting at 3% of GDP. On
June 5, 2014, the Pentagon reported to Congress that the PLA remains focused on Taiwan.
In 2008, congressional concerns mounted about a suspected “freeze” in President Bush’s
notifications on arms sales. On October 3, 2008, Bush finally notified Congress. However, he
submitted six of the eight pending programs (not a “package”) for a combined value of $6.5
billion. Despite those concerns, President Obama repeated that cycle to wait to submit formal
notifications for congressional review all on one day (on January 29, 2010) of five major
programs with a total value of $6.4 billion and again (on September 21, 2011) of three major
programs with a total value of $5.9 billion, including upgrades for Taiwan’s existing F-16A/B
fighters. Like Bush, President Obama has not notified a diesel-electric submarine design program
(the only one pending from decisions in 2001) and has not accepted Taiwan’s formal request for
new F-16C/D fighters (pending since 2006). By 2014, Taiwan proposed an indigenous submarine
program with U.S. assistance. Also, Taiwan is interested in two U.S. Navy excess Perry-class
frigates. An issue for oversight is whether the President is adhering to the TRA in making
available defense articles and defense services in such quantity as necessary to enable Taiwan to
maintain a “sufficient” self-defense capability. Legislation in the 113th Congress includes H.R.
419
(Ros-Lehtinen), S. 12 (Coats), H.R. 1960 (McKeon), H.R. 3470 (Royce), S. 1197 (Levin), S.
1683
(Menendez), H.R. 4435 (McKeon), H.R. 4495 (Forbes), S. 2410 (Levin), and H.R. 3979
(Barletta).
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Contents
U.S. Policy ....................................................................................................................................... 1
Role of Congress ....................................................................................................................... 1
Broad Indicators of Arms Transfers ........................................................................................... 1
Military Relationship ................................................................................................................. 2
“Software Initiative” ........................................................................................................... 2
Assessments of Taiwan’s Defense ....................................................................................... 3
Normalizing Military-to-Military Engagement ................................................................... 5
Senior-Level Exchanges, Exercises, Crisis Management ................................................... 6
April 2001 Arms Requests and Status of Arms Sales ................................................................ 8
April 2001 Decisions ........................................................................................................... 8
Taiwan’s Decisions .............................................................................................................. 9
Amphibious Assault Vehicles .............................................................................................. 9
Attack and Utility Helicopters ............................................................................................. 9
Kidd-Class Destroyers....................................................................................................... 10
Aegis-Equipped Destroyers ............................................................................................... 11
Submarines ........................................................................................................................ 11
P-3C ASW Aircraft ............................................................................................................ 15
Patriot Missile Defense ..................................................................................................... 16
Early Warning Radar ......................................................................................................... 18
Command and Control ...................................................................................................... 18
AMRAAM and SLAMRAAM .......................................................................................... 19
F-16C/D Fighters............................................................................................................... 20
F-16A/B Upgrade Program ............................................................................................... 24
Other Possible Future Arms Sales to Taiwan’s Military.................................................... 25
Policy Issues for Congress ....................................................................................................... 26
Extent of U.S. Commitment to Help Taiwan’s Self-Defense ............................................ 27
Changes in PLA Missile Deployments and Other CBMs ................................................. 29
Taiwan’s Commitment to Self-Defense and Defense Budgets .......................................... 32
Visits by Generals/Admirals to Taiwan ............................................................................. 39
Taiwan’s Missile Program ................................................................................................. 40
President’s “Freezes” or Delays in Arms Sales Notifications ........................................... 42
Strategic Policy Review .................................................................................................... 46
113th Congress: Major Congressional Action .......................................................................... 52
Major U.S. Arms Sales as Notified to Congress ............................................................................ 54

Tables
Table 1. Taiwan’s Defense Budgets ............................................................................................... 33
Table 2. Major U.S. Arms Sales as Notified to Congress .............................................................. 55

Contacts
Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 59
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U.S. Policy
This CRS Report discusses U.S. security assistance for Taiwan, formally called the Republic of
China (ROC), particularly policy issues for Congress. It also lists sales of major defense articles
and services to Taiwan, as approved by the President and notified to Congress since 1990. This
report uses a variety of unclassified consultations and citations in the United States and Taiwan.
Role of Congress
Congress passed and exercises oversight of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), P.L. 96-8, the law
that has governed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan since 1979, when the United States recognized the
People’s Republic of China (PRC) instead of the ROC. The TRA specifies that it is U.S. policy,
among the stipulations: to consider any nonpeaceful means to determine Taiwan’s future “a
threat” to the peace and security of the Western Pacific and of “grave concern” to the United
States; “to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character”; and “to maintain the capacity of
the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion” jeopardizing the security,
or social or economic system of Taiwan’s people. Section 3(a) states that “the United States will
make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be
necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.” The TRA specifies a
congressional role in decision-making on security assistance for Taiwan. Section 3(b) stipulates
that the President and Congress shall determine the nature and quantity of such defense articles
and services “based solely” upon their judgment of the needs of Taiwan, in accordance with
procedures established by law. Section 3(b) also says that “such determination of Taiwan’s
defense needs shall include review by United States military authorities in connection with
recommendations to the President and the Congress.” In a crisis, Section 3(c) of the TRA requires
the President to inform Congress “promptly” of any threat to “the security or the social or
economic system” of the people on Taiwan and any danger to U.S. interests. The TRA set up the
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which continued the functions of the embassy in Taipei. AIT
implements policy as directed by the Departments of Defense and State, and the National
Security Council (NSC) of the White House. They have controlled notifications to Congress of
pending major arms sales, as required by the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), P.L. 90-629.
Congress also oversees the President’s implementation of policies decided in 1982. President
Ronald Reagan agreed with the PRC on the August 17, 1982, Joint Communique on reducing
arms sales to Taiwan, but he also clarified that arms sales would continue in accordance with the
TRA and with the full expectation of a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan question. At the same
time, Reagan extended “Six Assurances” to Taipei, including assurances that Washington had not
agreed to set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan nor to consult with Beijing on arms sales.
(On policy for a peaceful resolution, see CRS Report RL30341, China/Taiwan: Evolution of the
“One China” Policy—Key Statements from Washington, Beijing, and Taipei
, by Shirley A. Kan.)
Broad Indicators of Arms Transfers
U.S. arms transfers to Taiwan have been significant despite the absence of a defense treaty or a
diplomatic relationship. Taiwan has ranked among the top recipients of U.S. arms sales. The value
of deliveries of U.S. defense articles and services to Taiwan totaled $4.3 billion in the 2004-2007
period and $2.9 billion in 2008-2011. Among customers worldwide, Taiwan ranked fourth
(behind Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) in 2004-2007 and fifth (behind Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Israel, and Australia) in 2008-2011. In 2011, Taiwan ranked eighth among worldwide recipients,
receiving $800 million worth of U.S. defense articles and services. As for agreements in 2011
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alone, Taiwan ranked sixth among customers worldwide, with agreements worth $1.6 billion.
Aggregate values for U.S. arms agreements with and deliveries to Taiwan are summarized below.1

2004-2007 period
2008-2011 period
2011
U.S. Agreements
$1.0 billion
$6.5 billion
$1.6 billion
U.S. Deliveries
$4.3 billion
$2.9 billion
$0.8 billion
Military Relationship
“Software Initiative”
In addition to transfers of hardware, beginning after the crisis in the Taiwan Strait in 1995-1996
during which President Clinton deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups near Taiwan in March
1996, the Pentagon quietly expanded the sensitive military relationship with Taiwan to levels
unprecedented since 1979.2 The broader exchanges have increased attention to “software,”
including discussions over strategy, training, logistics, command and control, etc.
Also, Taiwan’s F-16 fighter pilots have trained at Luke Air Force Base, AZ, since 1997. However,
in 2004, Taiwan’s Minister of Defense Lee Jye surprisingly wanted to withdraw the pilots and
fighters.3 In response, the Defense Department stressed the value of continuing the training
program to develop “mission ready and experienced pilots” with improved tactical proficiency
shown by graduated pilots who have “performed brilliantly,” as explicitly notified to Congress.4
In July 2001, after U.S. and Taiwan media reported on the “Monterey Talks,” a U.S.-Taiwan
meeting on national security that was launched in Monterey, CA, the Pentagon revealed it was the
seventh meeting (since 1997) held with Taiwan’s national security officials “to discuss issues of
interaction and means by which to provide for the defense of Taiwan.”5 Another round of such
strategic talks took place in July 2002.6 The 11th round of the talks took place in late September
2005, after the Bush Administration postponed the meeting by a couple of weeks to accommodate
PRC ruler Hu Jintao’s scheduled visit to Washington on September 7 (which was then postponed
because of President Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina).7 These talks have continued.
Increased U.S. concerns about Taiwan’s self-defense capability prompted expanded
communication on defense and security matters. At a conference on Taiwan’s defense in March
2002, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said that the United States wanted to help
Taiwan’s military to strengthen civilian control, enhance jointness, and rationalize arms
acquisitions.8 At a congressional hearing in April 2004, Assistant Secretary of Defense for

1 CRS Report R42737, U.S. Arms Sales: Agreements with and Deliveries to Major Clients, 2004-2011, by Richard F.
Grimmett; compiled with U.S. official data as reported by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
2 Mann, Jim, “U.S. Has Secretly Expanded Military Ties with Taiwan,” LA Times, July 24, 1999; Kurt M. Campbell
(former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs) and Derek J. Mitchell, “Crisis in the
Taiwan Strait?,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2001.
3 Jane’s Defense Weekly, October 9, 2004, and June 29, 2005; and author’s consultations.
4 DSCA, notification to Congress, October 25, 2005 (see list at end of this CRS Report).
5 China Times, Taipei, July 18, 2001; Washington Times, July 18, 2001; Defense Department briefing, July 19, 2001.
6 Central News Agency (CNA), Taipei, July 17, 2002.
7 Project for a New American Century, August 26, 2005; Taipei Times, September 15, 2005.
8 Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, “Remarks to the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council,” March 11, 2002.
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International Security Affairs Peter Rodman testified that the Pentagon believed Taiwan’s military
needed to improve readiness, planning, and interoperability among its services.9
Assessments of Taiwan’s Defense
The Pentagon has assessed Taiwan’s defense needs, starting with over a dozen studies from 1997
to early 2004.10 Congress could inquire about such assessments and require reports or briefings.
In response to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY1999, P.L. 105-261, the
Defense Department submitted the classified and unclassified reports, respectively in February
and May 1999, on theater missile defense options for Taiwan (along with U.S. allies, Japan and
South Korea).11 In September 1999, to enhance cooperation, a Pentagon team reportedly visited
Taiwan to assess its air defense capability.12 The Pentagon reportedly completed its classified
assessment in January 2000, finding a number of problems in the Taiwan military’s ability to
defend against aircraft, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles, and those problems included
international isolation, inadequate security, and sharp inter-service rivalries.13 In September 2000,
the Pentagon reportedly conducted a classified assessment of Taiwan’s naval defense needs—as
the Clinton Administration had promised in April 2000 while deferring a sale of Aegis-equipped
destroyers. The report, “Taiwan Naval Modernization,” was said to have found that Taiwan’s
navy needed the Aegis radar system, Kidd-class destroyers, submarines, an anti-submarine
underwater sonar array, and P-3 anti-submarine aircraft.14 On December 18, 2000, the Defense
Department issued a “Report to Congress on Implementation of the TRA,” in response to the
reporting requirement in the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2000 (P.L. 106-113).
In January 2001, a Pentagon team reportedly examined Taiwan’s command and control, air force
equipment, and air defense against a first strike.15 In September 2001, a Defense Department team
reportedly visited Taiwan to assess its army, as the Bush Administration promised in the April
2001 round of arms sales talks.16 In August 2002, a U.S. military team studied Taiwan’s Po Sheng
command and control program.17 In November 2002, another U.S. team visited Taiwan to assess
its Marine Corps and security at ports and harbors, and reported positive findings.18 In November
2003, a U.S. defense team rated Taiwan’s anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability as poor.19
In 2007-2009, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry conducted a Joint Defense Capabilities Assessment
(JDCA) with U.S. assistance, to determine requirements for Taiwan’s joint defense. In 2010, the
Defense Department began more detailed studies of Taiwan’s joint defense transformation.20

9 House International Relations Committee, “The Taiwan Relations Act: The Next 25 Years,” April 21, 2004.
10 Statement of Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman at a hearing on “The
Taiwan Relations Act: The Next 25 Years” held by the House International Relations Committee on April 21, 2004.
11 See analysis in CRS Report RL30379, Missile Defense Options for Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan: A Review of the
Defense Department Report to Congress
, by Robert D. Shuey, Shirley A. Kan, and Mark Christofferson.
12 “U.S. Military Team Arrives in Taiwan for Visit,” Lien-ho Pao [United Daily News], September 19, 1999.
13 Ricks, Thomas, “Taiwan Seen as Vulnerable to Attack,” Washington Post, March 31, 2000.
14 Tsao, Nadia, “Pentagon Report Says Taiwan Can Handle AEGIS,” Taipei Times, September 27, 2000; Michael
Gordon, “Secret U.S. Study Concludes Taiwan Needs New Arms,” New York Times, April 1, 2001.
15 China Times (Taiwan), January 14, 2001; Taipei Times, January 15, 2001.
16 Taipei Times (Taiwan), September 10, 2001.
17 Taiwan Defense Review (Taiwan), August 27, 2002.
18 Taipei Times, November 21, 2002; January 1, 2003; August 22, 2003; and Tzu-Yu Shih-Pao, April 14, 2003.
19 Jane’s Defense Weekly (JDW), December 3, 2003; Taiwan Defense Review, January 12, 2004; JDW, June 30, 2004.
20 Fu Mei, briefing at the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference, September 29, 2008; and “Defense and Security
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In 2009, Congress directed the Defense Secretary to assess Taiwan’s air defense forces, including
its F-16 fighters, with an unclassified report due by January 26, 2010. As directed by the
conference report for the NDAA for FY2010 (P.L. 111-84), on February 16, 2010, the Defense
Department submitted an unclassified assessment to Congress, concluding that the PLA’s ballistic
and cruise missiles as well as fighters have diminished Taiwan’s ability to deny the PLA air
superiority in a conflict.21 The study found that although Taiwan had almost 400 combat aircraft,
far fewer were operationally capable. Taiwan’s F-5 fighters already reached the end of their
operational service life. Taiwan’s Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDFs) lacked the capability for
sustained sorties. Taiwan’s Mirage-2000 fighters (from France) were technologically advanced
but required frequent, expensive maintenance that reduced their readiness rate. The assessment
noted that Taiwan recognized its need for sustainable replacements for obsolete and problematic
aircraft. This study raised a question of what basis the Bush and Obama Administrations had for
not accepting or agreeing to Taiwan’s request for new F-16s for almost four years, before there
was this assessment. The study also did not address the role of Taiwan’s military in deterrence in
peacetime. The congressional directive was a catalyst in advancing the Pentagon’s consideration
of Taiwan’s requirements for air defense. More than one year later, on September 22, 2011, the
Defense Department submitted a comprehensive, classified assessment of Taiwan’s air power.22
The Departments of Defense and State then briefed committees in the Senate on September 28
and in the House on October 5. In June 2013, the Senate Armed Services Committee reported on
the FY2014 NDAA (S.Rept. 113-44), which directed the Defense Secretary to submit a classified
report assessing the capabilities and readiness of Taiwan’s Air Force by December 1, 2013. The
Defense Department submitted a classified report on January 3, 2014.
Overall, the Defense Secretary has told Congress in required annual reports on PRC military
power that the balance of forces across the Taiwan Strait has continued to shift to the PRC’s favor.
The annual report noted in 2002 that PRC control over Taiwan would allow the PLA to move its
defensive perimeter further out to sea. The report on PRC military power told Congress in March
2009 that it was no longer the case that Taiwan’s Air Force enjoyed dominance of the airspace
over the strait. In assessing the shifting security situation, Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Wallace “Chip” Gregson stressed in September 2009 that
Taiwan’s military will never again have quantitative advantages over the PLA. As a retired
lieutenant general of the U.S. Marine Corps, former commander of Marine Corps Forces Pacific,
and a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, Gregson appreciated any advantages in defense of an
island or a smaller force, and urged Taiwan to shift to stress qualitative advantages, including
innovation and asymmetry.23 This U.S. stress spurred talks with Taiwan about asymmetrical
advantages, with implications for arms sales. On September 19, 2011, Acting Assistant Secretary
of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs Peter Lavoy urged Taiwan to stress survivable, credible
deterrence, plus innovative, asymmetric advantages.24 At a hearing on February 11, 2014,

(...continued)
Report,” U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, Annual Review 2009; CNA, October 6, 2010, citing the U.S.-Taiwan Business
Council’s Rupert Hammond-Chambers; and Taipei Times, April 25, 2013, citing AIT Chairman Ray Burghardt.
21 Defense Intelligence Agency, “Taiwan Air Defense Status Assessment,” DIA-02-1001-028, dated January 21, 2010.
22 For media reports: Washington Times, September 19, 2011; and Jason Sherman, “Pentagon Provides Congress Secret
Report on Taiwan’s Air Defense Capabilities,” Inside Defense, September 27, 2011.
23 Wallace Gregson, “Remarks to the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council’s Defense Industry Conference,” September 28,
2009. On October 4, 2010, Gregson again spoke at the annual conference, in Cambridge, MD, and reiterated the stress
on Taiwan’s need for innovation and asymmetry. But the Obama Administration did not release his speech.
24 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, defense industry conference, Richmond, VA, September 18-20, 2011. For the second
year, the Obama Administration refused to release the Defense Department’s speech, and for the first time, no senior
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Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director Michael Flynn testified to the Senate Armed
Services Committee that the primary driver of the PLA’s evolving force structure, weapons
development, planning, and training remains the preparation for conflict against Taiwan with U.S.
intervention. The Defense Secretary reported to Congress in June 2014 that the PLA’s primary
mission remained focused on a potential contingency in the Taiwan Strait and that this focus has
continued despite Taiwan’s re-election in 2012 of President Ma. The Pentagon reported that,
despite closer cross-strait ties, the PLA has continued to develop and deploy capabilities for
action against Taiwan. The Defense Department warned that PRC leaders stress the objective of
reaching critical economic and military benchmarks by 2020, which include attaining the
capability to fight and win potential regional conflicts, including those related to Taiwan. The
PLA’s Second Artillery (missile force) has deployed more than 1,000 short-range ballistic
missiles (SRBMs) across from Taiwan and also has long-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)
and land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs). The PLA held the Mission Action 2013 joint exercise
across from Taiwan that covered amphibious landing operations. However, the PLA Navy lacks
the amphibious lift capacity to conduct a large-scale invasion of Taiwan.25
Normalizing Military-to-Military Engagement
The George W. Bush Administration continued the Clinton Administration’s initiative and
expanded the closer military ties at different levels. In April 2001, President Bush announced he
would drop the 20-year-old annual arms talks process used to discuss arms sales to Taiwan’s
military in favor of normal, routine considerations of Taiwan’s requests on an as-needed basis—
similar to interactions with other foreign governments.26
U.S. military officers observed Taiwan’s Hankuang-17 annual military exercise in 2001, the first
time since 1979.27 The Pacific Command’s (PACOM’s) Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
(APCSS) accepted fellows from Taiwan in its Executive Course for the first time in the summer
of 2002.28 By the summer of 2002, the U.S. and Taiwan militaries reportedly discussed setting up
an undersea ASW link to monitor the PLA Navy’s submarines.29 The U.S. and Taiwan militaries
set up a hotline in 2002 to deal with possible crises.30
In addition, in 2002, the Administration asked Congress to pass legislation to authorize the
assignment of personnel from U.S. departments (including the Defense Department) to AIT,
allowing the assignment of active-duty military personnel to Taiwan for the first time since 1979.
The objective was to select from a wider range of personnel, without excluding those on active
duty. The first active-duty defense attaché since 1979, an Army Colonel began his duty in Taipei
in August 2005 with civilian clothes and a status similar to military attaches assigned to Hong
Kong, except that military personnel in Hong Kong may wear uniforms at some occasions.31

(...continued)
State Department official attended. No senior Defense or State Department official attended the conference in 2012.
25 Secretary of Defense, “Military and Security Developments Involving the PRC, 2014,” June 5, 2014. The NDAA for
FY2010, P.L. 111-84, changed the title of the annual report from the previous “Military Power of the PRC.”
26 On the annual arms talks, see CRS Report RS20365, Taiwan: Annual Arms Sales Process, by Shirley A. Kan.
27 Chung-Kuo Shih-Pao, Taipei, July 18, 2001. China Times (May 27, 2004) quoted Defense Minister Lee Jye as
confirming that U.S. military personnel observed the Hankuang-17, Hankuang-18, and Hankuang-19 exercises.
28 CNN.com, March 18, 2002; Author’s discussions in Hawaii in July 2002.
29 Tzu-Yu Shih-Pao [Liberty Times], Taipei, July 20, 2002.
30 Jane’s Defense Weekly (JDW), October 29, 2003.
31 In addition to Colonel Al Willner, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) assigned Army Colonel Peter
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Also, the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics sent a
letter to Congress on August 29, 2003, that designated Taiwan as a “major non-NATO ally.”
Senior-Level Exchanges, Exercises, Crisis Management
The United States and Taiwan have held high-level defense-related meetings in the United States.
The Bush Administration granted a visa for Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming to visit the United
States to attend an industry conference held by the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council on March 10-
12, 2002 (in St. Petersburg, FL), making him the first ROC defense minister to come to the
United States on a nontransit purpose since 1979.32 Tang met with Deputy Secretary of Defense
Paul Wolfowitz at the conference.33
However, after that policy change in 2002, Taiwan’s defense minister declined to visit the United
States through 2007. In September 2002, a deputy defense minister, Kang Ning-hsiang, visited
Washington and was the first senior Taiwan defense official to have meetings inside the Pentagon
since U.S.-ROC diplomatic ties severed in 1979, although a meeting with Wolfowitz took place
outside the Pentagon.34 In January 2003, a Taiwanese newspaper leaked information that a U.S.
military team planned to participate in—beyond observe—the Hankuang-19 military exercise and
be present at Taiwan’s Hengshan Command Center for the first time since 1979.35 On the same
day, General Chen Chao-min, a deputy defense minister, confirmed to Taiwan’s legislature a U.S.
plan for a noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO). However, the leak and confirmation
reportedly prompted annoyance in Washington and contributed to a U.S. decision to limit General
Chen’s visit to the United States in February 2003 to attendance at a private sector conference on
Taiwan’s defense (in San Antonio, TX), without a visit to Washington.36 Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Randall Schriver
met with General Chen. In October 2004, Taiwan’s Deputy Minister for Armaments, General
Huoh Shoou-yeh, attended a U.S.-Taiwan defense industry conference (in Scottsdale, AZ),
instead of Defense Minister Lee Jye.
In May 2005, the Chief of General Staff, General Lee Tien-yu, visited the United States, but he
was the first Chief of General Staff from Taiwan willing to make the biennial visit since General
Tang Fei’s visit in 1998.37 In September 2005, Deputy Minister Huoh again attended a U.S.-
Taiwan defense industry conference (in San Diego, CA). Deputy Defense Minister Ko Chen-heng
attended the next conference in September 2006 (in Denver, CO). In July 2007, Chief of General
Staff, General Huoh Shoou-yeh, visited the United States.38 At the defense industry conference in
September 2007 (in Annapolis, MD), Deputy Minister Ko again represented Taiwan, as Defense

(...continued)
Notarianni to oversee security assistance programs at AIT in Taipei. Department of Defense, notice, “DSCA contract
awarded to AIT to support DSCA active-duty military and civil service personnel,” September 24, 2005. In the past,
from 1951 to 1979, the United States assigned to Taiwan the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG). (See
Ministry of National Defense, U.S. MAAG – Taiwan: an Oral History, Taipei: 2008. One of the officers interviewed
was retired Colonel Mason Young, Jr., father of Stephen Young who served as AIT Director from 2006 to 2009.)
32 In December 2001, Defense Minister Wu Shih-wen made a U.S. transit on his way to the Dominican Republic.
33 Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, “Remarks to the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council,” March 11, 2002.
34 Reuters, September 10, 2002.
35 Chung-Kuo Shih-Pao [China Times], January 2, 2003.
36 Taiwan Defense Review, January 18, 2003; Straits Times (Singapore), January 21, 2003.
37 Lien-Ho Pao [United Daily News] (Taipei), May 26, 2005.
38 China Times, Taipei, July 13, 2007.
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Minister Lee Tien-yu declined to visit the United States. In only the second visit by a defense
minister from Taiwan since 1979, Minister Chen Chao-min visited the United States on
September 28–October 5, 2008, attending the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in
Jacksonville, FL, and visiting Luke Air Force Base, Naval Warfare Systems Command in San
Diego, and the Pacific Command in Honolulu.39 In June 2009, Chief of General Staff, Admiral
Lin Jan-yi, visited the United States.40 However, Taiwan’s defense minister declined to visit for
the annual defense conferences in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. Instead, a deputy
minister of defense represented Taiwan in talks with senior U.S. officials and private industry
executives. Still, Taiwan’s President sent Defense Minister Yen Ming to Swaziland in April 2014.
As mentioned above, U.S. military observation of Taiwan’s Hankuang military exercises resumed
in 2001. The Hankuang-19 exercise took place in April-May 2003, with participation by about 20
U.S. military personnel and retired Admiral Dennis Blair, who just resigned as the Commander of
the Pacific Command (PACOM). (Blair led U.S. observers through the Hankuang-24 exercise in
June 2008. In 2009, he became the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).) The 2003 exercise
reportedly raised questions about the military’s will to fight and ability to sustain defense before
possible U.S. support.41 Deputy Defense Minister Lin Chong-pin visited Washington in June 2003
to respond to concerns about Taiwan’s commitment to self-defense. The Hankuang-20 exercise
reportedly included a U.S.-provided computer simulation in August 2004 that resulted in the PLA
invading and capturing the capital, Taipei, within six days.42 In April 2006, Taiwan’s President
Chen Shui-bian and other officials held a Yushan exercise to improve crisis-management and
continuity-of-government to counter any PLA “decapitation” attack, with no U.S. participation.43
Then, in April 2008, AIT Director Stephen Young and other U.S. officials observed the Yushan
exercise for the first time, but some KMT politicians criticized the inclusion of U.S. observers.
The KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou became president in May 2008. In December 2008, Defense Minister
Chen Chao-min announced a reduction in the frequency of the Hankuang live-fire field exercises
to change them from annual to biennial exercises (only once in two years), raising questions
about training, readiness, as well as contacts with the U.S. military. Hankuang-25 was held in
June 2009. Retired Admiral Robert Natter (former Commander of the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet) led
U.S. military observers to the exercise. Meanwhile, President Ma renamed the crisis-management
exercise from Yushan to Chunghsing, changed the scenario from a PLA attack to domestic
disasters, and did not invite U.S. officials to observe like in 2008.44 In 2013, Taiwan’s military
announced that the Han Kuang-29 exercise in April would resume use of live ammunition for the
first time in these drills since 2008, including firing of Taiwan’s new Thunderbolt multiple launch
rocket system (MLRS). The military’s live-fire drills could result in more realistic training.
However, two months later, President Ma and his officials faced difficulties in managing relief for
the disaster caused by Typhoon Morakot that hit Taiwan on August 8, 2009. With hundreds of
people buried in a landslide, Taiwan’s government initially declined to request foreign aid and did
not ask for American assistance until August 13. On August 16 and 17, the U.S. military provided

39 Speech by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David Sedney, in Jacksonville, FL, September 29, 2008.
40 Tzu-yu Shih-pao [Liberty Times], Taipei, June 19, 2009.
41 Lien-Ho Pao [United Daily News] (Taipei), April 16, 2003; China Times (Taipei), April 19, 2003; Taipei Times,
April 25, 2003; Central News Agency (Taipei), May 9, 2003.
42 AFP, August 11, 2004; Taiwan News, August 12, 2004.
43 Liberty Times (Taipei), April 13 and 16, 2006; and author’s interviews in Taipei.
44 York Chen (was in Chen Shui-bian’s NSC), “Exercises Give Chance to Test Mettle,” Taipei Times, March 31, 2009;
U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Defense & Security Report,” First Quarter, 2009.
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assistance with the arrival in Taiwan of two KC-130 transport aircraft from Okinawa, Japan, as
well as the USS Denver (the Navy’s amphibious transport dock based in Sasebo, Japan) with two
MH-53 and two MH-60 Marine Corps heavy-lift helicopters in disaster relief operations. (The
U.S. military previously had supported disaster relief in Taiwan after the earthquake on
September 21, 1999, and the Typhoon Aere in 2004.) In his national day address on October 10,
2009, President Ma recognized China for its aid that “exceeded those of all other nations,”
without mentioning the United States in his speech.
April 2001 Arms Requests and Status of Arms Sales
April 2001 Decisions
In 2001, arms sales talks took place on April 24 in Washington, DC, and Taiwan was represented
by its Vice Chief of General Staff, General Huoh Shou-yeh. According to the Administration and
news reports,45 President Bush approved Taiwan’s request for: 8 diesel-electric submarines; 12 P-
3C Orion anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft (linked to the submarine sale); 54 Mark-48
ASW torpedoes; 44 Harpoon submarine-launched anti-ship cruise missiles; 144 M109A6 Paladin
self-propelled howitzers; 54 AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles; AN/ALE-50 electronic
countermeasure (ECM) systems for F-16s; and 12 MH-53 mine-sweeping helicopters. President
Bush approved four decommissioned Kidd-class destroyers for sale as Excess Defense Articles
(EDA). Bush also decided to brief Taiwan’s military on the PAC-3 missile defense missile.46
President Bush deferred decisions on destroyers equipped with the Aegis combat system. Bush
also deferred decisions on M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks and AH-64D Apache Longbow attack
helicopters, pending a U.S. assessment of Taiwan’s army. (The United States later approved
Taiwan’s request for Abrams tanks in 2001. Also, in the fall of 2008, the U.S. Army briefed
Taiwan’s army on the M1A2 tank and an upgraded M8 armored gun system. By early 2009,
Taiwan’s army estimated the total cost of under 150 new tanks at about US$2.9 billion.)47
President Bush denied Taiwan’s requests for Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and High-
speed Anti-radiation Missiles (HARM) that target radar-equipped air defense systems. At the
U.S.-Taiwan Business Council’s conference in February 2003, however, Deputy Under Secretary
of the Air Force Willard Mitchell indicated that these requests were under review. A possible basis
for reviewing any renewed requests from Taiwan was found in the Pentagon’s report on PRC
Military Power submitted in July 2003 to Congress, which confirmed that the PLA procured from
Israel “a significant number of HARPY anti-radiation systems.” The press first reported on the
PLA’s acquisition of the HARPY attack drones in 2002.48 By the second half of 2004, the
Administration reportedly considered Taiwan’s new request for the HARM (submitted in August

45 White House, press briefing, April 24, 2001; Department of Defense, news briefing, April 24, 2001;David Sanger,
“Bush is Offering Taiwanese Some Arms, But Not the Best,” New York Times, April 24, 2001; Steven Mufson and
Dana Milbank, “Taiwan to Get Variety of Arms,” Washington Post, April 24, 2001; Neil King Jr., “Bush Defers Sale
of Aegis to Taiwan, Will Offer Four Kidd-Class Destroyers,” Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2001; “U.S. Refuses
Taiwan Request for JDAM, HARM, and PAC-3 Missiles,” Aerospace Daily, April 25, 2001; and “U.S. Formally
Informs ROC of Arms Sales Decision,” Central News Agency (Taiwan), April 25, 2001.
46 Taiwan Defense Review, January 18, 2003, reported the briefing took place in late 2001.
47 Mark Stokes, “Taiwan’s Security: Beyond the Special Budget,” AEI, March 27, 2006; U.S.-Taiwan Business
Council, “Defense & Security Report,” Second Quarter 2009.
48 Washington Times, July 2, 2002; Guangzhou Daily (via FBIS), July 4, 2002; Ha’aretz, Tel Aviv, July 25, 2002;
Flight International, November 5-11, 2002.
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2004), while a decision on JDAM guidance kits also remained pending.49 However, in 2005, the
Bush Administration reportedly denied these requests.50 Yet, in September 2011, the Obama
Administration notified Congress of upgrades to Taiwan’s F-16A/B fighters, including JDAMs.
Taiwan’s Decisions
After the U.S. response to Taiwan’s requests in 2001, attention turned to Taiwan, where the
military, civilian officials, and competing political parties in a newly assertive legislature
(Legislative Yuan, or LY) have debated contentious issues. These issues include the urgency of a
possible PLA attack, how much to spend on defense, which U.S. weapons systems to buy,
whether to respond to perceived U.S. pressure, and what the defense strategy should be. The
debate has taken place as the Pentagon has warned of the PLA’s accelerated buildup in a coercive
strategy targeting Taiwan. In early 2003, the Bush Administration stressed to Taiwan the
imperatives of missile defense, command and control, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). In
March 2003, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry issued a new procurement plan emphasizing those
priorities.51 However, setting priorities, forging a national consensus, and funding defense
programs have remained contentious in Taiwan’s politicized debate over national security.
Amphibious Assault Vehicles
Taiwan agreed to purchase the AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles, under a program managed
by the U.S. Marine Corps. The Bush Administration notified Congress in September 2002. United
Defense Industries obtained a contract in June 2003, and deliveries began in March 2005.52
Taiwan could request additional AAV7A1s.
Attack and Utility Helicopters
After deferring a decision on Taiwan’s request for attack helicopters, the Bush Administration, in
May 2002, approved the request, and Taiwan began negotiations on 30 AH-64D Apache
Longbow helicopters sold by Boeing.53 Afterwards, Taiwan also considered the AH-1Z Cobra
helicopters sold by Bell.54 In April 2007, Taiwan’s military decided to procure 30 Apaches.55
Also, in 2005, Taiwan requested price and availability data for acquisition of 60 utility
helicopters.56 In 2005, Bell proposed its UH-1Y Huey utility helicopter, and Sikorsky proposed its
UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters as replacement for Taiwan’s UH-1H Huey utility helicopters. In
the LY in December 2007, inter-party negotiations and the final decision approved about $203
million but froze two-thirds, or $135 million, for 60 UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters.
Also in the 2008 defense budget, the LY approved $228 million for 30 Apache helicopters.
On October 3, 2008, President Bush finally notified Congress of the proposed Foreign Military
Sale (FMS) program of 30 Apache helicopters for a total value of $2.532 billion. However, in
what observers noted was an apparent arbitrary decision, the President did not notify Congress of

49 Taiwan News, October 6, 2004; Washington Times, October 8, 2004; Taiwan Defense Review, November 26, 2004.
50 Wendell Minnick, “U.S. Rejects Taiwan Request for HARM and JDAM Kits,” JDW, January 18, 2006.
51 Taiwan Defense Review, March 12, 2003.
52 Jane’s International Defense Review, September 2003; Taiwan Defense Review, March 4, 2005.
53 Taipei Times, May 26, 2002; Jane’s Defense Weekly, June 5, 2002.
54 Jane’s Defense Weekly, March 10 and 24, 2004.
55 AFP, April 12, 2007; Lien-Ho Pao, July 9, 2007; Defense News, July 16, 2007.
56 Jane’s Defense Weekly, August 24, 2005; Defense News, July 16, 2007.
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the pending sale of Black Hawk utility helicopters, which required notification at a later time.
Taiwan signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the Apaches in 2009.57
Taiwan’s 2009 defense budget included about $230 million for the program to procure 60 Black
Hawk helicopters.58 However, after Typhoon Morakot battered Taiwan on August 8-10, 2009,
President Ma responded to domestic criticism of his crisis-management and disaster relief in part
by announcing on August 18 that he would cut the purchase from 60 to 45 Black Hawks and use
what he claimed would be $300 million in so-called “savings” to purchase strictly civilian rescue
helicopters. However, that contradictory decision also called for the military to beef up its role in
disaster relief, which would require more helicopters like the Black Hawks. The military’s
helicopters already have served dual (military and civilian) missions. President Ma apparently did
not consult with the Defense Ministry, which announced on August 30 that it would preserve the
pending program to procure 60 Black Hawk helicopters, to avoid delays and costly changes in
procurement process, and to maintain the objective of upgrading combat readiness. The Defense
Ministry already had prepared and submitted a Letter of Request for U.S. consideration. While
agreeing, Ma nonetheless directed the Defense Ministry to work on diverting 15 of the new
military helicopters to the Interior Ministry, which would detract from national defense.
Meanwhile, the military already considered options to increase its assistance to disaster relief,
which would require more (not fewer) helicopters that serve dual (military or civilian) tasks,
while upgrading combat capabilities in acquiring the 60 Black Hawks. The Defense Ministry also
had concerns that the Interior Ministry lacked the capability to maintain and operate the
helicopters or train pilots, which could increase the burden on the military. On January 29, 2010,
President Obama notified Congress of a sale of the helicopters for $3.1 billion. Deputy Defense
Minister Andrew Yang said in November 2012 that the military would still transfer 15 of the
Black Hawk helicopters to the Interior Ministry, given Taiwan’s priority on internal challenges.59
Kidd-Class Destroyers
In October 2002, the Defense Committee of Taiwan’s legislature engaged in a sharp partisan
debate over whether to approve funding (about $800 million) to buy the U.S. Navy’s four
available Kidd-class destroyers, ending with 18 lawmakers from the ruling Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) voting in favor, against 16
legislators from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and People’s First Party (PFP).60 In
November 2002, the Bush Administration notified Congress of the proposed sale of four Kidd-
class destroyers for about $875 million. Then, on May 30, 2003, Taiwan’s legislature finally
voted to release the funding, after they conditioned funding on bargaining with the U.S. Navy on
a 15% price reduction. The U.S. Navy began reactivation and upgrade of the Kidds in July 200361
for delivery of the 9,600-ton destroyers ahead of schedule from October 2005 to 2006. Taiwan’s
Naval Commander-in-Chief, Marine General Chen Pang-chih, attended the transfer ceremony in
Charleston, SC, for the first two destroyers on October 29, 2005, in the presence of
Representative Henry Brown. The destroyers, the largest warships in Taiwan’s navy, are equipped
with SM-2 air-defense missiles and a joint combat management system. The transfer ceremony

57 Defense News, April 12, 2010.
58 Max Hirsch, “U.S. to Approve Major Helicopter Sale to Taiwan This Year,” Kyodo, March 9, 2009.
59 Interview published in Defense News, November 12, 2012.
60 Author’s visit to Taiwan; and Taipei Times and China Post (Taipei), November 1, 2002.
61 Taipei Times, September 5, 2003; Taiwan Defense Review, March 10, 2004; Taipei Times, September 15, 2004;
Jane’s Defense Weekly, November 10, 2004.
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for the final two Kidds took place in Charleston, SC, on August 25, 2006. After the transfer of the
Kidds, a follow-on issue has been whether Taiwan would acquire more SM-2 missiles.
Aegis-Equipped Destroyers
The Department of Defense considered the Kidds as platforms to provide Taiwan’s navy with the
necessary operational experience before any possible acquisition of more advanced Aegis-
equipped ships.62 The U.S. Navy deploys the Aegis combat system (e.g., on the Arleigh Burke-
class destroyer) for air defense and applies it in development of a future Navy missile defense
system (using SM-3 missiles). An alternative to the Arleigh Burke that retains the Aegis Spy-1D
radar, called the Evolved Advanced Combat System (EACS) has been considered. The Aegis
combat system has the capability to track over 100 targets and to conduct simultaneous anti-air,
anti-surface, and anti-submarine operations. During the U.S. war in Iraq in 2003, the Aegis
combat system helped the Patriot missile defense system to detect and intercept Iraqi missiles.63
In 2002, Taiwan again requested four Arleigh Burke-class, Aegis-equipped destroyers, for
delivery in 2010 and at a cost of about $4.8 billion. Taiwan did not get a U.S. response.64
Submarines
Despite initial skepticism about the Bush Administration’s April 2001 agreement to sell Taiwan
submarines (since the United States no longer manufactures diesel-electric submarines), the
Department of Defense has discussed options for a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) or Direct
Commercial Sales (DCS) program for eight boats with U.S. and foreign companies and Taiwan.
The Defense Department’s spokesman noted the availability of a variety of designs in the world
for diesel-electric submarines.65 Taiwan decided in 2001 to pursue an FMS program. In addition
to the military and political implications of selling submarines to Taiwan’s navy, issues for
Congress include potential technology transfers to Taiwan and European countries, and leaks of
secrets from Taiwan to the PRC, that could involve U.S. submarine secrets and implications for
the U.S. military.66 In a report to Congress, as required by the National Defense Authorization Act
for FY1992-FY1993, the Secretary of the Navy reported in May 1992 that “to the extent that a
potential diesel submarine construction project would draw on U.S. resources, it has the potential
to tap into the state-of-the-art technology used in U.S. nuclear powered submarines.” The report
also noted “the fact that the diesel submarine is not a viable asset in the U.S. Navy” and that
“construction of diesel submarines for export in U.S. shipyards would not support the U.S.
submarine shipbuilding base and could encourage future development and operation of diesel
submarines to the detriment of our own forces.” The report also said that “it may be possible to
control the release of the most important information and specific technologies of concern, but an
effective system would also have significant costs. The problem will be more difficult, however,
if a foreign entity is present in the shipyards during submarine construction.”
In November 2001, seven companies submitted bids and concept papers to the Department of the
Navy. Companies interested in the contract reportedly included U.S. manufacturers, Northrop

62 Consultations; and Wendell Minnick, “What Those Systems are All About,” Topics, November 2004.
63 Discussion with Lockheed Martin executive, June 10, 2004; and U.S. Army, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense
Command, Fort Bliss, TX, “Operation Iraqi Freedom: Theater Air and Missile Defense,” September 2003.
64 Lien-Ho Pao, September 1, 2004; Taiwan Defense Review, December 19, 2004; author’s consultations.
65 Defense Department, news briefing, April 24, 2001.
66 As for U.S. counter-espionage concerns, the FBI sent agents to Taipei to investigate alleged compromises of security
on the PRC’s behalf at Taiwan military’s Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CNA, August 13, 2003).
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Grumman (with its Ingalls Shipbuilding shipyard) and General Dynamics (with its Electric Boat
shipyard); Germany’s HDW; the Netherlands’ RDM (which sold its Zwaardvis-class submarine
design to Taiwan in the 1980s for two Hai Lung [Sea Dragon]-class submarines); France’s DCN;
and Spain’s IZAR (which became Navantia). Although the Administration promised to help
Taiwan buy submarines, not build them, Taiwan’s China Shipbuilding Corporation also became
interested in a part of the contract, with support from some of Taiwan’s legislators. The U.S.
Navy discussed options with Taiwan’s Navy in July 2002 and initially planned to select the
manufacturer(s) to design and build the submarines in the latter half of 2003.67 On December 6,
2002, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England informed Congress in a Determination and Findings
memo that bidding would be limited to four U.S. companies and the submarines would be of U.S.
origin.68 The U.S. Navy held a second Industry Day on December 17, 2002, with General
Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon interested in being the prime
contractor.69
The U.S. Navy provided the Independent Cost Estimate (ICE) on January 17, 2003.70 The ICE put
the submarine program at about $10.5 billion, but private sector estimates were said to be lower
(perhaps $6 billion-$7 billion). Greater risks and costs were factored into the ICE because of
uncertainty about funding by Taiwan and about the availability of European or other designs.
However, by April 2003, the sale became at risk, when the United States and Taiwan reached an
impasse over the program start-up costs estimated by the U.S. Navy at $333 million, but offered
at $28.5 million by Taiwan. On May 20-23, 2003, Taiwan’s Navy sent a delegation led by Vice
Admiral Kao Yang to Washington to discuss the issue, but the differences reportedly remained
unresolved.71 Facing the delays in Taiwan’s commitment of funds (although it first requested
submarines in 1995) and a long acquisition process, the Administration then viewed the program
as a long-term solution for Taiwan that would not meet the near-term blockade and submarine
threats posed by the PLA Navy.72 In 2003, the Bush Administration inquired with Italy about
buying eight decommissioning Sauro-class diesel-electric submarines for the estimated cost of
about $2 billion for delivery starting in 2006, but Taiwan’s navy opted for new submarines.73
Officials from the U.S. Navy’s International Program Office visited Taipei in June and October
2003, for further talks on whether Taiwan will procure submarines.74 The U.S. team also met with
some of Taiwan’s legislators, including Lin Yu-fang of the opposition People First Party. Lin was
one of the sponsors of legislation passed in May 2002, requiring Taiwan’s navy to arrange for six
of the eight submarines to be built in Taiwan using technology transfers.75 The total cost of new

67 Central News Agency (Taiwan), July 30, 2002; Taipei Times, July 31, 2002; Defense Daily, September 16, 2002.
68 Gordon England, Memorandum to Congress with Determination and Findings, December 6, 2002.
69 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, December 17, 2002.
70 Tung-sen Hsin-wen Pao, Taipei, September 28, 2005.
71 United Daily News, April 21, 2003, and April 22, 2003; Taiwan Defense Review, May 17, 2003, and May 30, 2003.
72 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, Defense and Aerospace Report, Second Quarter 2003; Bloomberg, July 10, 2003;
Defense Daily, July 11, 2003; TDReview, September 19, 2003.
73 Wendell Minnick, “Submarine Decisions Show Lack of Creativity,” Taipei Times, October 16, 2004.
74 China Post, June 26; United Daily News, October 23; CNA, October 26; Taipei Times, October 31, 2003; Author’s
consultation.
75 Author’s discussion with Lin Yu-fang in Taipei in December 2003.
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submarines was estimated at $9 billion-$12 billion,76 leading Taiwan’s political leaders to
consider a controversial Special Budget.77 (See discussion on budgets below.)
Taiwan’s new demand for domestic industrial participation had added another issue and greater
potential costs to the program (about $2.5 billion to the total), which U.S. Navy officials
discussed with potential prime contractors at the third Industry Day meeting on December 15,
2003, in Washington.78 However, Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz told Taiwan’s visiting
legislative delegation on June 21, 2004, that the Bush Administration approved Taiwan’s request
for assistance in purchasing submarines but was opposed to Taiwan’s new proposal to build them
in Taiwan.79 With U.S. opposition to Taiwan’s domestic production of submarines conveyed in
official letters from the Defense Department in May and July 2004, Minister of Defense Lee Jye
estimated that the cost of the submarines could be reduced.80 Depending on the funds ultimately
approved in Taiwan, the scope of a program could be restricted to fewer than eight boats.
Thus, with delays in Taiwan’s decision-making after 2001, Taiwan’s request for and the Bush
Administration’s approval of a sale of submarines met with mixed opinions in Taipei and
Washington. In early 2003, officials in the Bush Administration stressed ASW surveillance as one
priority for Taiwan’s military to consider, with the focus on static arrays and patrol aircraft to
track submarines. The Administration approved submarines but did not consider them a priority.81
In early 2006, articles appeared alleging that the U.S. Navy failed to effectively implement the
diesel sub program for Taiwan, in part to protect the nuclear-powered submarine capability.82 The
Defense Department and the Navy repeated that they supported President Bush’s 2001 policy
decision on arms sales to Taiwan, but that Taiwan must commit to fund the program. In February
2006, Representative Rob Simmons visited Taiwan, saying that he represented his district in
Connecticut, home to General Dynamics’ Electric Boat shipyard. In a speech at the American
Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, Simmons suggested that the subs could cost less, perhaps
around $8 billion, and proposed an interim step to break the impasse whereby Taiwan could
procure a sub design first, costing perhaps $225 million.83 The Navy and DSCA said that Taiwan
could first submit a request for a sub design phase.84
On April 3, 2006, Taiwan’s military submitted a request for U.S. assessment of the feasibility of
using two phases (design then perhaps construction). Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Richard
Lawless conveyed the U.S. policy response to Taiwan’s defense minister in an official letter on
June 27, 2006, stating that a two-phased approach was “legally permissible and administratively
feasible.” However, Lawless warned that such a program likely would increase costs and risks,
making foreign design firms and their governments less willing to participate. The Defense

76 Lien-ho Pao [United Daily News], August 25, 2003; Taipei Times, October 31, 2003.
77 Taiwan Defense Review, April 30, 2004.
78 Ibid., February 6, 2004, and April 30, 2004.
79 United Daily News (Taipei), June 23, 2004.
80 Lien-Ho Pao, September 8, 2004; CNA, October 19, 2004. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless
referred to his previous letters of May 20 and July 7, 2004, in a letter to Defense Minister Lee Jye on June 27, 2006.
81 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, Defense and Security Report, 2nd Quarter 2005.
82 Wendell Minnick, “Taiwan Claims U.S. Navy is Sabotaging SSK Plans,” Jane’s Defense Weekly, February 15, 2006;
“Come Clean on Subs,” editorial, Defense News, February 13, 2006.
83 News from Rob Simmons, February 17, 2006; Central News Agency, February 22, 2006; Taipei Times, February 23,
2006; Defense News, February 27, 2006; and AmCham’s Taiwan Business Topics, March 2006.
84 Interviews with Navy and DSCA officials, including consultations in Taipei in April 2006.
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Department estimated the design phase to cost $360 million, if Taiwan requested it.85 Following
Lawless’ letter, Representative Rob Simmons wrote a letter to Defense Minister Lee Jye on July
17, noting that the next step was for Taiwan to request a letter of agreement for the first phase of a
sub design.86 In answer to a question posed by Representative Simmons at a meeting of the
Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus on September 27, 2006, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon
England wrote that his department stood ready to support the U.S. effort to help Taiwan acquire
submarines, if Taiwan provided the necessary funds.87
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy requested funds from Taiwan to keep an office to manage the sub
program and reportedly warned Taiwan in August 2005 that the “pre-selection” process would
stop without such funds. Through March 2006, Taiwan paid $7.5 million to retain the office.88
On June 15, 2007, Taiwan’s legislature passed the 2007 defense budget with $6 million to fund a
“feasibility study” (with LY participation) and did not commit to the design phase or full
procurement of submarines (the two U.S.-approved options). Representative James Langevin
expressed concerns in a letter to the Secretary of Defense and asked for a review of the U.S.
proposal to Taiwan.89 For the study, a LY delegation met with companies and officials in the
United States in August 2007. The LY delegation was positive about its visit but did not reach a
conclusion about the sub procurement. In September 2007, the stance of the KMT’s presidential
candidate, Ma Ying-yeou, was to support the sub purchase, but a KMT legislator who was in the
LY delegation of August suggested a possible “new list” of arms requests depending on the
outcome of the presidential election in March 2008.90
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry requested in the 2008 defense budget about US$169 million as the
first of three annual installments for the design phase (total of US$360 million). The LY’s defense
committee kept the requested amount in the defense budget that it approved in October 2007, but
the question of procurement was left for inter-party negotiations and the full LY to address. In
December 2007, the LY approved the 2008 defense budget with the funds for the sub program cut
to US$61.5 million. With one-sixth of the required amount, questions arose about Taiwan’s full
funding for the design phase and how the U.S. Navy would be able to execute the first phase as
approved by the Defense Department in June 2006. Nevertheless, in January 2008, Navy
Secretary Donald Winter assured Representative Joe Courtney that Taiwan was required to
commit to fully fund phase one and incremental payments would be acceptable.91 Later in
January 2008, the Navy accepted Taiwan’s Letter of Request (LOR) for the sub design phase.92
Then, a Navy team visited Taiwan in March 2008 to discuss details of the program.93
However, on October 3, 2008, after the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou became president in May, the Bush
Administration did not submit for congressional review the pending submarine design program,

85 Letter from Richard Lawless to Taiwan’s Defense Minister Lee Jye, June 27, 2006; Jim Wolf, “U.S. Clears Two-
Stage Path to Taiwan Submarine Deal,” Reuters, July 14, 2006.
86 Letter from Rob Simmons to Defense Minister Lee Jye, July 17, 2006.
87 Gordon England, letter to Rob Simmons, October 24, 2006.
88 National Journal, April 6, 2006; and author’s interviews in Taipei in April 2006.
89 James Langevin, letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, July 20, 2007.
90 Su Chi’s remarks at U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, Defense Industry Conference, Annapolis, September 10-11,
2007; author’s consultations in Taipei in November 2007.
91 Assistant Secretary of the Navy John Thackrah, letter of response, January 18, 2008.
92 Consultations with TECRO, January and February 2008.
93 Wendell Minnick, “Hurdles Await Taiwan Efforts to Move Forward on Submarines,” Defense News, March 17,
2008.
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while notifying Congress of six other proposed arms sales to Taiwan. Representative Courtney
wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on October 6, 2008, to inquire about the status of
the submarine design program given the failure to notify Congress. Reportedly, in 2008, President
Ma reevaluated then reaffirmed the program (adjusted with a goal of some local construction, if
not development).94 In his public remarks delivered to the United States on April 22, 2009,
President Ma affirmed to the Obama Administration Taiwan’s continued commitment to request
the sub design program. Also, in late 2009, Taiwan’s LY and military remained committed to the
procurement of new submarines.95 President Obama did not submit for congressional review the
pending program for a submarine design when he notified Congress of five other programs in
January 2010. Despite U.S.-Taiwan commitments, the Obama Administration claimed it made no
decision to rule in or rule out the sub program, even though the United States could have given
Taiwan a clear answer. That month, Principal officials in the Administration decided not to
proceed with the sub program (claimed as not “defensive”), and NSC official Jeff Bader stressed
to the PRC ambassador that Administration officials did not authorize the program at that time.96
Prospects for the submarine program appeared uncertain as an FMS program. Taiwan’s
alternatives included domestic construction and/or DCS, including for small submarines. Still, on
January 25, 2011, President Ma reiterated to visiting AIT Chairman Ray Burghardt Taiwan’s need
to buy subs and F-16C/D fighters to replace aging equipment (that could be four boats). Also,
Shuai Hua-ming, a key legislator in the LY’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee,
visited Washington on February 10-11, and reaffirmed Taiwan’s need for subs. In an address to
the United States on May 12, 2011, President Ma reiterated Taiwan’s need to buy F-16C/D
fighters and submarines, primarily for leverage in political negotiations with Beijing. Some, such
as former Pentagon official Mark Stokes, have cited submarines for Taiwan’s survival, credible
deterrence and asymmetrical advantages. In January 2013, President Ma said that Taiwan’s aging
submarines need replacements, when he met with a CODEL led by Representatives Ed Royce and
Eliot Engel, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who
saw one of Taiwan’s two 1940s-era ex-U.S. Guppy II-class subs at a naval base a day earlier.
Taiwan also has two Dutch Zwaardvis-class submarines. In June, in response to Representative
Robert Andrews, Under Secretary of Defense James Miller acknowledged that the Defense
Department reviewed with no decision on Taiwan’s request of 2008 for a submarine design, but
he did not clarify the situation in an answer to Congress. The department also noted that Taiwan
has not requested technical assistance for its own submarine program.97 In June 2014, Taiwan’s
defense ministry decided also to seek DCS for an Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) program
to build four boats by 2035. In August, President Ma told a CODEL led by Representative
Howard McKeon that Taiwan sought to build submarines for ASW training. A top Taiwan Navy
Admiral later said that another mission of the submarines would be to defend Taiwan.98
P-3C ASW Aircraft
After the United States approved Taiwan’s request for 12 P-3C planes, the two sides negotiated
the proposed sale. But Taiwan questioned the estimated cost of $300 million per new plane (in

94 Asia-Pacific Defense Magazine, September 2008; U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Defense & Security Report,” 1st
Quarter 2009.
95 Author’s consultations in Taipei in November 2009.
96 Jeff Bader, Obama and China’s Rise (Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2012).
97 James Miller, letter to Representative Robert Andrews, June 23, 2013.
98 Office of the President, “President Ma Meets Delegation Led By U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman
Howard McKeon,” Taipei, August 7, 2014; Author’s consultations, Washington, DC, December 8, 2014.
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part due to Lockheed Martin’s need to reopen the production line) for a total cost of $4.1 billion
(including parts and training) and sought alternatives in 2003, such as refurbished P-3Bs or
surplus P-3Cs retired from the U.S. Navy’s fleet. In 2004, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense sought
approval from the Legislative Yuan (LY) of a Special Budget to include funds (about $1.6 billion)
for 12 refurbished P-3C ASW planes (sold as Excess Defense Articles) with possible delivery in
2008-2011.99 The sale became more complicated in 2006, when L-3 Communications wanted to
compete.100 The LY committed to the procurement of the P-3C planes by budgeting about $188
million in the 2007 defense budget passed on June 15, 2007 (with a total program cost of $1.4
billion). About three months later in September 2007, the Bush Administration notified Congress
of the proposed sale of 12 excess P-3C aircraft (and support) worth $1.96 billion. In March 2009,
Lockheed Martin received the contract to refurbish the P-3C planes by 2015. However, the initial
proposal for P-3 ASW aircraft was linked to a sale of submarines, which remained pending.
Patriot Missile Defense
After U.S. approval in 1992, Taiwan in 1997 acquired three Patriot missile defense fire units with
PAC-2 Guidance Enhanced Missiles. In the late 1990s, Congress also encouraged the Defense
Department to stress Taiwan’s missile defense capability in a regional context. After the Bush
Administration in 2001 decided to brief Taiwan on the advanced PAC-3 hit-to-kill missile,
Taiwan considered buying the PAC-3 system. (The U.S. Army completed developmental testing
of the PAC-3 in October 2001 and conducted operational tests in 2002. The PAC-3 has been
deployed with the U.S. Army, as seen in Operation Iraqi Freedom during March-April 2003.
Raytheon describes its Patriot system as the world’s most advanced ground-based system for
defense against aircraft, theater ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles.)
In late 2002, the Pentagon reportedly was disappointed with Taiwan’s delay in requesting the
PAC-3 missiles.101 At a private sector conference on Taiwan’s defense in February 2003, Bush
Administration officials openly stressed to Taiwan’s visiting Deputy Defense Minister Chen
Chao-min the imperative of acquiring advanced missile defense systems. In March 2003, Mary
Tighe, the Director of Asian and Pacific Affairs, led a Defense Department delegation to Taiwan
to urge its acquisition of missile defense systems, including the PAC-3.102 After Chen criticized
the Patriot’s performance in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, a Pentagon spokesperson corrected
Chen to Taiwan’s media on March 27, 2003.103 According to the U.S. Army, the Patriot missile
defense system (with Guidance Enhanced Missiles (GEM) and PAC-3 missiles) intercepted nine
Iraqi missiles out of nine engagements.104 In April 2003, Taiwan submitted a request for price and
availability data in a step towards a contract, and in May 2004, Defense Minister Lee Jye
requested six PAC-3 firing units and upgrade of three PAC-2 Plus firing units (deployed around
Taipei and not major military bases or assets) to the PAC-3 standard for about $4.3 billion.105

99 Taiwan Defense Review, April 30, 2004.
100 China Times, Taipei, September 4, 2006; Jane’s Defense Weekly, October 18, 2006.
101 Taiwan Defense Review, December 6, 2002.
102 Central News Agency (Taiwan), March 11, 2003.
103 Taipei Times, March 29, 2003.
104 U.S. Army, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, Fort Bliss, TX, “Operation Iraqi Freedom: Theater Air
and Missile Defense,” September 2003. For a skeptical view, see Randy Barrett, “Pentagon Releases Candid Glimpse
of Missile Defense During Iraq War,” Space News, November 10, 2003.
105 Far Eastern Economic Review, May 15, 2003; Jane’s, July 23, 2003; Taiwan Defense Review, June 15, 2004.
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Complicated by the failure of a referendum to pass in March 2004, Taiwan’s military looked to
buy PAC-3 units, originally seeking funds out of a Special Budget submitted in May 2004.106
Acquisition of missile defense systems was controversial in Taiwan, with some supporting the
development of domestic long-range missiles instead and some preferring short-range missile
defense systems. (See discussion below.) Missile defense also became politicized, when President
Chen Shui-bian pushed for a referendum on buying more missile defense systems that was held
on the presidential election day on March 20, 2004. That referendum became invalid when only
45% of eligible voters cast ballots (with 50% needed). (Out of the valid ballots cast, 92% agreed
with the proposal.) The opposition KMT and PFP parties objected to acquiring PAC-3 missiles for
three years, based on their claim that the referendum “vetoed” the question.107
In 2006, Taiwan’s military and lawmakers debated whether to upgrade Taiwan’s PAC-2 missile
defense units, if PAC-3 missiles were not purchased. Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng
promoted PAC-2 upgrades, but other KMT lawmakers did not support additional purchases of
Patriot missile defense. KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming, a retired army lieutenant general,
preferred more “cost-effective” weapons and “offensive” missile systems as “deterrence.”108 At
the time, Taiwan had not upgraded its Patriot missile defense systems (to the latest configuration
for radars and command and control with new training and hardware). The cheaper option to first
upgrade the ground systems for Taiwan’s three PAC-2 units was estimated at $600 million. In
April 2006, after first rejecting Patriot upgrades, Taiwan’s defense ministry requested U.S. price
and availability data for PAC-2 upgrades and requested a supplemental budget for Patriot
upgrades in 2006 (not passed).109 In the end, Taiwan’s LY deleted the defense ministry’s request
of about $347 million (out of a total program cost of $3.6 billion) to procure PAC-3 missiles in
the 2007 defense budget passed on June 15, 2007, and opted to fund about $110 million for PAC-
2 upgrades (out of a total program cost of $603 million). The President notified Congress in
November 2007 of the proposed Patriot ground systems upgrade program, valued at $939 million.
In late 2007, Taiwan’s LY partially resolved whether to procure PAC-3 missiles. In October 2007,
the LY’s defense committee retained a requested budget of about US$539 million in the 2008
defense budget to begin to procure PAC-3 missiles. However, the question was left for inter-party
negotiations and the full LY to address in December 2007, which decided to fund four sets but
freeze the funds for two more, freezing NT$5.8 billion (US$179 million) out of NT$17.5 billion
(US$539 million). By the second quarter of 2008, the LY’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense
Committee released frozen funds, for the total program of six PAC-3 missile batteries with 384
missiles.110 On October 3, 2008, President Bush notified Congress of a proposed sale of 330 PAC-
3 missiles for $3.1 billion. However, the President broke up into two parts the sale of PAC-3
systems, excluding three of seven firing units (including one training unit) and about 50 missiles.
The implications of this arbitrary decision included the requirement of a second notification of a
second purchase as well as delays and a higher cost for Taiwan, with an additional $2 billion.
President Obama notified Congress on January 29, 2010, of a sale of the remaining three firing
units with 114 PAC-3 missiles, for another program valued at $2.81 billion. Taiwan will have a

106 Central News Agency, March 3, 2004; China Times, April 13, 2004; Taiwan Defense Review, April 30, 2004.
107 A KMT lawmaker, Su Chi, voiced his objections to missile defense based on the referendum’s result during the
author’s visit to Taiwan in October 2004, before his election.
108 Taipei Times, April 10, 2006; and author’s interview with Shuai Hua-min in April 2006.
109 Central News Agency, February 21, 2006; Taipei Times, February 22, 2006; author’s interview with Raytheon in
March 2006; and author’s interviews in Taipei in April 2006.
110 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Defense & Security Report,” Second Quarter 2008.
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total of ten Patriot batteries to fire PAC-2 GEM or PAC-3 missiles. Still, Taiwan needed early
warning radars and a command, control, communications, and computers (C4) system.
Early Warning Radar
In 1999, some in Congress encouraged the Clinton Administration to approve a sale of early
warning radars, approval that was given in 2000. The Pentagon stressed the importance of long-
range early warning and tracking of ballistic and cruise missile attacks against Taiwan. Taiwan
reportedly considered two options: a radar similar to AN/FPS-115 Pave Paws sold by Raytheon
and the LM Digital UHF Radar proposed by Lockheed Martin.111 Despite divided opinions
among lawmakers, in November 2003, Taiwan’s legislature approved the Defense Ministry’s
request for about $800 million to fund one radar site (rather than an option for two).112
Nonetheless, on March 30, 2004, the Defense Department notified Congress of the proposed sale
of two ultra high frequency long range early warning radars, with the potential value of $1.8
billion, that would enhance Taiwan’s ability to identify and detect ballistic missiles as well as
cruise missiles, and other threats from the air, and improve the early warning capability of
Taiwan’s C4ISR architecture. The notification pointed out that U.S. personnel would not be
assigned to the radar(s). By early 2005, Taiwan had not contracted for the controversial program,
and Lockheed Martin withdrew its bid.113 In June 2005, Raytheon concluded a contract worth
$752 million to provide one Early Warning Surveillance Radar System to Taiwan by September
2009.114 However, by early 2007, Taiwan decided not to procure the second radar.115 Construction
of the radar in the Surveillance Radar Program (SRP) proceeded in 2009. It would set up a missile
warning center with links to Taiwan’s command authority and possibly the U.S. military.
However, Taiwan complained of mistrust, delays, and price increases for the SRP (and other
programs). The U.S. Air Force unexpectedly asked Taiwan to agree to two revised Letters of
Offer and Acceptance for two additional payments of about $141 million (requested in December
2007 to cover costs in disaster response) and about $56 million (requested in June 2009 to
enhance anti-tampering). In 2011, Raytheon requested a third increase of about $200 million.
While Taiwan’s officials, including in the LY and Taiwan’s military, expressed frustration at the
extra U.S. demands, they said they remained committed to the SRP.116 Taiwan’s military reported
the first use of the radar to track North Korea’s long-range missile on December 11, 2012.
Command and Control
In addition, after approval in 1999, the United States has assisted Taiwan’s command, control,
communications, and computers (C4) program (named Po Sheng), intended to acquire datalinks
and integration of the services into a joint system.117 In July 2001, the Bush Administration

111 Jane’s Defense Weekly, March 26, 2003, and February 11, 2004.
112 Taiwan Defense Review, November 26, 2003; Jane’s Defense Review, December 3, 2003.
113 Jane’s Defense Weekly, February 9, 2005.
114 Raytheon, June 23, 2005; Department of Defense, Air Force Contract for Raytheon, June 23, 2005; Wall Street
Journal
, June 24, 2005; CNA, June 25, 2005.
115 Wendell Minnick, “Taiwan’s Military Grapples with a Major C4ISR Upgrade,” C4ISR Journal, March 2, 2007.
116 Author’s consultations with officials in Taipei in November 2009. Also see “Taiwan Pays NT$34 Billion on Behalf
of the U.S. to Guard its Own Door,” I Chou Kan, Taipei, October 22, 2009; Max Hirsch, “Taiwan ‘Frustrated’ with
U.S. Over Key Radar and Other Arms Deals,” Kyodo, November 4, 2009; Liberty Times, February 22, 2010; Central
News Agency
, June 14, 2011; Taipei Times, June 17, 2011.
117 Chung-Kuo Shih-Pao [China Times] (Taiwan), July 18, 2001; Defense and Aerospace (U.S.-Taiwan Business
Council), 2001; Taiwan Defense Review, August 27, 2002.
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notified Congress of a proposed sale of Joint Tactical Information Distribution Systems
(JTIDS)/Link 16 terminals, a basis for an expanded program. In early 2003, the Administration
signaled to Taiwan that this FMS program (managed by the U.S. Navy’s SPAWAR command)
should be given top priority. However, Taiwan opted for a program costing about $1.4 billion,
rather than the comprehensive recommendation costing about $3.9 billion.118 In September 2003,
Lockheed Martin signed a contract with the initial value of $27.6 million.119 The Administration’s
notification to Congress submitted on September 24, 2003, indicated that the total value could
reach $775 million. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry also decided not to integrate U.S. communications
security (COMSEC) equipment that could facilitate crisis-management and interoperability.120
Full Operational Capability of the initial Po Sheng program was reached at the end of 2009, after
which Taiwan named the capability the Syun An C4 system.121 (See below on the espionage case
involving Taiwan’s Army Major General Lo Hsien-che that compromised the Po Sheng system.)
In May 2009, Taiwan submitted a Letter of Request for follow-on technical support for this Po
Sheng program (in 2010 to 2014). A program for Taiwan Integrated Support System (TISS)
would not be a new system or capability. Taiwan would integrate more platforms, systems, and
sensors in air, naval, and ground units to the Po Sheng command and control network.122
President Obama notified Congress on January 29, 2010, of this follow-on support program.
Nonetheless, Taiwan acquired only one-third of the U.S.-recommended C4 network. A U.S.
private sector study in 2010 stressed that Taiwan could invest more to leverage critical C4ISR for
its “all-hazards defense” and warned that Taiwan’s defense and homeland security officials lagged
behind in leveraging the information technology (IT) that made Taiwan’s companies major
players in the global economy. Moreover, in early 2011, an ex-DSCA official urged Taiwan to
work towards the complete integration of the C4 system with the Patriot missile defense units and
the early warning radar (SRP). He critiqued Taiwan’s efforts as “slowly” moving toward a
credible missile defense capability that still required an expanded and integrated C4 network for
early warning detection, tracking, and prioritization of missile threats.123
AMRAAM and SLAMRAAM
In April 2000, the Clinton Administration approved the sale of AIM-120 Advanced Medium-
Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs), with the understanding that the missiles would be kept
in storage on U.S. territory and transferred later to Taiwan, if/when the PLA acquires a similar
Russian missile, like the R-77 (AA-12) air-to-air missile, or threatens to attack Taiwan. In
September 2000, the Administration notified Congress of a potential sale of 200 AMRAAMs.
On July 1, 2002, the Washington Times reported that, in June, two SU-30 fighters of the PLA Air
Force test-fired AA-12 medium-range air-to-air missiles acquired from Russia. The report raised
questions as to whether the PLA already deployed the missiles. According to Reuters (July 10,

118 SPAWAR briefing at U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference, February 12-14, 2003; Taiwan Defense Review,
July 17, 2003; Tzu-Yu Shih Pao [Liberty Times], July 14, 2003.
119 Taiwan Defense Review, September 17, 2003; Jane’s Defense Weekly, October 1, 2003.
120 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Defense & Security Report,” Third Quarter 2004.
121 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, defense industry conference, Charlottesville, VA, September 29, 2009.
122 Author’s consultation, September 2009.
123 Mark Stokes, “Revolutionizing Taiwan’s Security: Leveraging C4ISR for Traditional and Non-Traditional
Challenges,” Project 2049 Institute, February 19, 2010; Ed Ross (President of EWRoss International), “Taiwan’s
Ballistic-Missile Deterrence and Defense Capabilities,” China Brief, Jamestown Foundation, February 10, 2011.
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2002), Raytheon planned to finalize production of the AMRAAMs for Taiwan by the fall of 2003.
Some in Congress urged the Administration to transfer AMRAAMs to Taiwan after production.
By the end of 2002, the Bush Administration authorized delivery of the AMRAAMs to Taiwan
and briefed its Air Force on ground-launched AMRAAMs.124 (The U.S. Army has developed the
Surface Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, or SLAMRAAM, for cruise
missile defense.) By November 2003, Taiwan received its first delivery of AMRAAMs, and a
pilot of Taiwan’s Air Force test-fired an AMRAAM at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida on
November 10, 2003.125 However, although the Clinton Administration agreed to Taiwan’s request
for 200 AMRAAMs for Taiwan’s 150 F-16 fighters, Taiwan’s Air Force actually purchased only
120 AMRAAMs (although some U.S. observers think Taiwan needs at least 350 AMRAAMs).126
By April 2004, the Defense Department reportedly encouraged Taiwan to acquire the
SLAMRAAM to help counter the PLA’s expected deployment of land attack cruise missiles.127
F-16C/D Fighters
Since 2006, Taiwan has been trying to request to procure new F-16C/D fighters, to add to its
existing F-16 force. In 2006, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry requested initial funding from the LY to
acquire 66 F-16C/D fighters and to boost the defense budget in 2007 (an attempt to reach 2.85%
of GDP).128 On November 6, 2006, the LY’s defense and budget committees jointly passed an
amended 2007 defense budget, which froze the requested budget for F-16C/D fighters for five
months (ending on May 31, 2007), pending U.S. provision of price and availability data. When
the LY passed the final 2007 defense budget on June 15, 2007, the deadline for releasing the
funds (about $488 million) for F-16C/Ds was extended until October 31. In the LY, there was
broad political support for procurement of new fighters, but there was uncertainty about next
steps if President Bush did not approve the release of pricing data (a potential sale).
The Bush Administration refused even to accept a formal Letter of Request (LOR) for F-16C/D
fighters, after Taiwan tried to submit one in June-July 2006, February 2007, and June 2007.129
Nonetheless, in October 2007, the LY’s defense committee passed a 2008 defense budget that
retained the requested F-16 procurement program. In December 2007, inter-party negotiations
and the final decision in the LY deleted NT$2.2 billion from NT$22.2 billion leaving NT$20
billion (US$615 million). But the whole amount was frozen pending U.S. price and availability
data. On September 22, 2008, Defense Minister Chen Chao-min reported to the LY that the
military needed to acquire the new F-16 fighters. The Defense Ministry had to return the unspent
funds in the 2007 defense budget and needed to return the funds in the 2008 budget.

124 Lien-Ho Pao [United Daily News], Taipei, January 5, 2003; Remarks of Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force
Willard Mitchell at the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council’s conference in February 2003.
125 Taiwan Defense Review, November 15, 2003; Central News Agency, November 18, 2003.
126 Wendell Minnick, “Taiwan’s Military will Fire Blanks,” Taipei Times, May 25, 2005.
127 Jane’s Defense Weekly, April 7, 2004.
128 In spring of 2006, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry considered asking to purchase new F-16C/D (not F-15) fighters
(author’s interviews in Taipei in April 2006). Also: Wendell Minnick, “Airplane Race in Taiwan Straits,” Defense
News
, May 15, 2006; Jim Wolf, “Taiwan Seeks 66 F-16 Fighters,” Reuters, July 27, 2006; Minnick, “U.S. Debates
Taiwan Request for 66 F-16s,” Defense News, August 28, 2006; author’s consultations in September 2006; and Central
News Agency
, Taipei, October 2, 2006 (quoting Minister Lee Jye).
129 Liberty Times, Taipei, November 2, 2007; consultation with TECRO, February 29, 2008; and U.S.-Taiwan Business
Council, “Defense & Security Report,” Second Quarter 2008; Central News Agency, June 24, 2011.
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In 2006, President Bush reportedly was reluctant to consider a formal request for new F-16
fighters without Taiwan’s resolution of pending arms sales and without a 2007 defense budget
that included funds for the fighters, given questions about Taiwan’s credibility on arms purchases.
Moreover, the Administration expressed disapproval in April 2007 about Taiwan’s domestic
development of land-attack cruise missiles (see discussion below). Then, within days after the
LY’s passage of the 2007 defense budget in mid-June 2007, Taiwan President Chen proposed a
referendum on membership in the U.N. under the name “Taiwan” to be held on the day of the
next presidential election (scheduled for March 22, 2008). At a U.S.-Taiwan defense industry
conference on September 10-11, 2007, at which there was concern about the persisting status of
“no decision” on whether to consider Taiwan’s interest in new F-16s, the Administration issued a
speech to stress U.S. opposition to this referendum while linking strength and moderation as two
requirements for the broader and longer-term security of Taiwan.130 President Bush looked to
Beijing to cooperate in nuclear nonproliferation efforts targeting North Korea and Iran. After
President George H. W. Bush approved the sale of 150 F-16A/B fighters to Taiwan in September
1992, the PRC ended its participation in the “Arms Control in the Middle East” talks and
transferred M-11 short-range ballistic missiles to Pakistan in November 1992 (albeit either in
retaliation or regardless of U.S. actions). Some critics argued that the sale in 1992 of F-16 fighters
violated the 1982 Joint Communique on reducing arms sales to Taiwan and that continuing arms
sales to Taiwan would harm U.S. ties with a rising China with greater wealth and influence. Also,
there is concern about the limited impact of 66 new fighters on the military balance to counter the
PLA’s larger missile threats to Taiwan’s aircraft and airfields.131
Aside from concerns about the PRC’s reaction, there are questions over arms sales about whether
Taiwan’s limited defense dollars might be better spent on other needs to boost defense, such as
rapid runway repair, personnel recruitment and retention, munitions, hardening, realistic training,
maintenance and logistics, robust reserves, and mobile systems for asymmetrical advantages.
Advocates argued that Taiwan’s legitimate requirement for new F-16C/D fighters to replace aging
fighters needed for air defense should not be linked to other programs or political problems.132
Taiwan was showing commitment to self-defense, a U.S. goal for cross-strait stability. Section
3(b) of the TRA stipulates that the President and Congress shall determine arms sales “based
solely upon their judgment of the needs of Taiwan.” In 1994, Congress passed the Foreign
Relations Authorization Act for FY1994-FY1995 (P.L. 103-236), with language to affirm that
Section 3 of the TRA (on arms sales) takes primacy over policy statements (1982 Joint
Communique). Moreover, in issuing the August 17, 1982, Joint Communique, President Reagan
wrote in a memo that “it is essential that the quantity and quality of the arms provided Taiwan be
conditioned entirely on the threat posed by the PRC. Both in quantitative and qualitative terms,
Taiwan’s defense capability relative to that of the PRC will be maintained.” Further, supporters
argued that the United States should consider Taiwan’s request when Taiwan showed a
commitment to raise its defense capabilities and the KMT Party’s Ma Ying-jeou became president

130 Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Christensen, “A Strong and Moderate Taiwan,” U.S.-Taiwan Defense
Industry Conference, Annapolis, MD, September 11, 2007.
131 Chas. Freeman, Jr., “Preventing War in the Taiwan Strait,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 1998; Rand Corporation,
“Turning the Tide: Analysis of Military Modernization Options for Taiwan,” a study for the U.S. Defense Department
and Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, September 2009; Bill Owens (retired admiral and co-chair of unofficial
“Sanya Talks” with the PLA), “America Must Start Treating China as a Friend,” Financial Times, November 17, 2009.
132 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Defense & Security Report,” 3rd Quarter 2006, 2nd Quarter 2007, “The Balance of
Air Power in the Taiwan Strait,” May 2010, and “The Looming Taiwan Fighter Gap,” October 2012; John Tkacik,
“Approve Taiwan Arms Buy,” Defense News, July 30, 2007; Dean Cheng, Heritage Foundation, “Meeting Taiwan’s
Self-Defense Needs,” February 26, 2010, and “F-16C/D Fills Taiwan’s Fighter Need,” June 5, 2013.
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in May 2008 with the goal to resume cross-strait talks to reduce tension. Also, withholding
support for this request would undermine another U.S. objective of discouraging Taiwan’s
deployment of cruise missiles. In addition, supporters pointed out that in April 2001, President
Bush dropped the 20-year-old annual arms talks used to discuss arms sales in favor of
depoliticized determinations of Taiwan’s requests on an as-needed basis. Taiwan cited a need to
replace obsolete fighters. Selling more F-16s to Taiwan would affect Taiwan’s air defense beyond
the number of 66 planes and upgrade overall capabilities that include pilots (whom the U.S. Air
Force has trained), when Taiwan’s defense capabilities matter for deterrence in peacetime as well
as in a conflict. Just after retiring as the Air Force’s Deputy Under Secretary for International
Affairs, Bruce Lemkin said in July 2010 that new F-16 fighters would help Taiwan to maintain
the same deterrent capability that the United States helped Taiwan to achieve in the late 1990s.133
On October 4, 2011, six retired Air Force lieutenant generals and generals and a former Secretary
of the Air Force wrote to Senators John Cornyn and Robert Menendez to support a sale of F-
16C/Ds to help restore the military balance, increase stability, and decrease the likelihood of any
U.S. intervention between the PRC and Taiwan.134
Days after Taiwan’s presidential election in March 2008, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Eric Edelman promised Senators Tim Johnson and James Inhofe of the Senate Taiwan Caucus
that the department would consider carefully any request from Taiwan for defense articles and
services, “including replacement airframes.”135 Nevertheless, some were concerned that the Bush
Administration stressed China’s objections over U.S. policy consideration of arms sales based
solely upon Taiwan’s legitimate defense needs. Even after Taiwan approved a defense budget in
December 2007 and Ma Ying-jeou succeeded Chen Shui-bian as Taiwan’s president in May 2008,
President Bush continued to rebuff Taiwan’s efforts to request F-16 fighters, in part because of the
Olympic Games in August 2008.136
U.S. policy has long helped Taiwan to maintain its Air Force capabilities and to complicate the
PLA’s calculus to attack Taiwan. In January 1982, President Ronald Reagan decided to sell F-5E
fighters, as they were more advanced than the PRC’s fighters at the time, and to consider the
more sophisticated F-5G version if Taiwan needed them.137 The F-16C/D (single-seat/two-seat
versions) multi-role (air-to-air and air-to-surface combat) fighters would not be a new type of
weapon sold to Taiwan, as they are the improved versions of F-16s sold in 1992. In September
1992, President George H. W. Bush notified Congress of the sale of 150 F-16A/B fighters with a
value of $5.8 billion. (The first F-16A fighters entered service in the U.S. Air Force in 1979. In
1980, the Air Force began a program to improve the F-16’s capabilities for precision strike, night
attack, and beyond-visual-range interception, with advanced controls and fire control radars. The
U.S. Air Force received the first F-16C fighters in 1984.)138 The U.S. Air Force has invested
efforts in a program to train Taiwan’s F-16 pilots at Luke Air Force Base, AZ, since 1997, and had
concerns when Taiwan’s defense minister considered ending the training program in 2004.

133 Quoted by Jim Wolf, “Taiwan Overdue for F-16 Jets, Ex-U.S. Official Said,” Reuters, July 6, 2010.
134 Signed by David Deptula, Michael Dunn, John Loh, William Looney, Lester Lyles, Lloyd Newton, and Michael
Wynne.
135 Eric Edelman, letter in response to Senators Tim Johnson and James Inhofe, March 28, 2008.
136 Washington Times, May 9 and 30, 2008; Rupert Hammond-Chambers, President of the U.S.-Taiwan Business
Council, “Taiwan’s Security on Hold,” op-ed, The Hill, June 6, 2008.
137 Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries (Harper Collins Publishers, 2007).
138 Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, 1986-1987; U.S. Air Force fact sheet, June 2006.
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Since 1990, the PLA Air Force has bought Russian Su-27 and Su-30 fighters, and in late 2006,
received the first J-10 fighters (developed in China based on the Israeli Lavi program of the
1980s). The PLA Air Force also acquired Russian S-300PMU2 surface-to-air missiles with a
range that extends over Taiwan’s airspace. The Secretary of Defense’s annual report to Congress
on PRC military power warned in 2009 that the modernizing PLA continued to shift the cross-
strait military balance in its favor and that it was no longer the case that Taiwan’s Air Force
enjoyed dominance of the airspace over the strait. The Pentagon reported to Congress in 2011 that
the PLA Air Force deployed 490 combat aircraft (330 fighters and 160 bombers) within range of
Taiwan (without need to refuel), while Taiwan had 388 fighters and 22 bombers. However, these
numbers do not depict the dynamic situation, in which deployments and readiness could change.
Taiwan’s Air Force has deployed 145 F-16A/B fighters (with 14 of them at Luke Air Force Base
for training), 127 Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDFs) (with limited combat range and payload
capacity), 56 Mirage-2000 fighters (with costly spares and support that led to reduced readiness
and consideration of mothballing them by 2009), and 32 F-5s (that still fly for training though
they reached the end of their operational life). Taiwan asserted a need to replace aging F-5s but
actually also needs to replace the IDFs and Mirage fighters (bought from France in 1992).139
Taiwan included $82 million for the F-16C/D program in the 2009 defense budget, for a total cost
estimated at $4.7 billion. In public remarks on April 22, 2009, President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated
his commitment to the Obama Administration that Taiwan still requested the F-16C/Ds. By mid-
2009, Taiwan quietly admitted difficulty in sustaining costly maintenance of the Mirage fighters,
but Taiwan’s Air Force denied in October 2010 earlier reports that it had to mothball the Mirages.
Without a U.S. decision through 2009 on whether to consider Taiwan’s request for F-16C/Ds
(despite Taiwan’s funding in defense budgets), 26 of Taiwan’s legislators, led by Shuai Hua-ming,
sent a letter to Congress in early January 2010 to express their bipartisan commitment to the
request. On January 29, 2010, when President Obama first notified Congress of arms sales to
Taiwan, Administration officials noted that they were still assessing Taiwan’s need for fighters.
In 2010, Lockheed Martin stressed the urgency of a new sale of F-16 fighters to Taiwan, because
it would help keep the production line open as the F-16 program was drawing to an end. The
manufacturing process would need contracts three years before the production line closes, in part
to sustain sub-contracts for supplies. By 2020, Taiwan’s fighters would drop in number by 70%
without new F-16s and by 50% with 66 new F-16s. Lockheed Martin also commissioned a study
released in June 2011 that estimated a program of F-16s for Taiwan with direct spending of about
$4.6 billion with 23,407 direct jobs in 44 states and the District of Columbia (while generating
about $8.7 billion in total output and 87,664 in total jobs when including indirect employment).140
Still, Taiwan was not the only interested buyer of F-16s. Aside from commercial considerations, a
concern for policy makers would be the dim chance of an alternative if the F-16 is no longer
available. Moreover, years after Taiwan first asked for F-16C/Ds, the issue evolved to the U.S.
response to deterioration in Taiwan’s whole air force, beyond whether to sell more planes. In an
address to the United States on May 12, 2011, President Ma reiterated Taiwan’s need to buy F-
16C/D fighters and submarines, primarily for leverage in political negotiations with Beijing. Ma
was running for reelection in January 2012, and his campaign manager, King Pu-tsung, visited
Washington where on September 11, he called U.S. arms “bargaining chips” with the PRC.

139 Secretary of Defense, “Military Power of the People’s Republic of China, 2009,” March 25, 2009; “Taiwan Air
Defense Status Assessment,” DIA-02-1001-028, dated January 21, 2010; and “Military and Security Developments
Involving the People’s Republic of China, 2011,” August 24, 2011; Author’s consultations.
140 Lockheed Martin’s briefing, March 23, 2010; Perryman Group, “An Assessment of the Potential Impact of the
Lockheed Martin Taiwan F-16 Program on Business Activity in Affected States and Congressional Districts,” 2011.
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Meanwhile, visiting Deputy Minister of Defense Andrew Yang said in Richmond on September
18 that Taiwan also looks to procure the more advanced F-35 fighters. He called the F-16C/Ds
and submarines the most urgent systems for Taiwan to acquire (not the F-16A/B upgrade).
On September 21, 2011, the Administration did not provide answers about whether to sell new F-
16C/Ds (though it said that it did not rule out a sale) or why it still would not accept Taiwan’s
formal request, while notifying Congress of a program to upgrade Taiwan’s existing F-16A/B
fighters. Though President Ma politically and publicly thanked President Obama for the upgrade
of F-16A/Bs, Ma told visiting Representative Hank Johnson on September 30 that the F-16A/B
program was needed because of obsolete spare parts but Taiwan still needed new F-16C/Ds to
replace aging fighters. (Also see Johnson’s commentary in The Hill on October 11, 2011.)
In 2012, Taiwan raised questions with its continued constrained defense spending and President
Ma’s lack of stress on F-16C/Ds to U.S. congressional delegations. Still, in September, Legislator
Lin Yu-fang led a LY delegation, which stressed that Taiwan still sought fighters with capabilities
at least similar to the F-16C/Ds and that there would be sufficient funding.
F-16A/B Upgrade Program
Another consideration arose after Taiwan submitted a Letter of Request in November 2009 to
upgrade its F-16A/B fighters sold back in 1992. Taiwan argued this program would be necessary
in parallel to and not a substitute for new F-16C/D fighters. The program for existing F-16A/B
fighters would upgrade them, extend their service life, and meet problems of obsolete spare parts,
but would not add new planes to replace old fighters. The Ma Administration’s and LY’s priorities
were for new F-16C/Ds, not for only an upgrade. One issue has concerned whether and how
Taiwan would fund both programs (for procuring new fighters and upgrading existing fighters).
In August 2011, the United States provided pricing data, and Taiwan’s military requested
allocations from the LY beginning in the 2012 defense budget for a total of $3.8 billion.141 On
September 21, the Administration formally notified Congress of three programs to upgrade
Taiwan’s 145 F-16A/Bs (for $5.3 billion), continue to train Taiwan’s F-16 pilots at Luke Air
Force Base, and to sell spare parts for F-16A/Bs, F-5E/Fs, C-130Hs, and IDFs. The program to
upgrade, or retrofit, the F-16A/Bs was more extensive and expensive than earlier expectations,
including active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and JDAMs. Options for the AESA
radar include Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) and Raytheon’s
Advanced Combat Radar (RACR). At a U.S.-Taiwan defense industry conference on September
19, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Lavoy stressed Taiwan’s need for survivable,
credible deterrence. Separately, in two briefings issued by the State Department on September 19
and 21, even before and on the day of the formal notification to and public announcement of
confidential consultations with Congress, the Obama Administration shaped reporting by the
press. The Administration asserted that the President’s decision to upgrade the F-16A/Bs will
provide “essentially the same quality as new F-16C/D aircraft at a far cheaper price” and that
Taiwan would get 145 F-16A/Bs instead of only 66 F-16C/Ds. The Administration said that the
upgrade would make an “immediate and significant contribution” to Taiwan’s air defense and that
the F-16A/B program would “get greater capabilities more rapidly in a larger number of airplanes
into the field in a more decisive way in this context, again, without ruling out any future sales.”
However, the Administration’s assertions raised many questions. Taiwan would not get any
additional planes to replace fighters. The cost was higher than previous estimates of about $2

141 Defense News, August 14, 2011; Central News Agency, September 1, 2011; Taipei Times, September 2, 2011.
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billion-$4.5 billion, or perhaps 55%-65% of new F-16s.142 The Administration did not explain
why it decided on a program for F-16A/Bs but not a program for new F-16C/Ds, if they are all
vulnerable to the PLA’s missile attacks. Moreover, according to Lockheed Martin, the retrofit
would take one squadron (about 24) of Taiwan’s F-16A/B fighters out of service at a time over
five years. The retrofit would not start until 2017, after five years of preparatory work. The
program would take three years longer than a program to sell the same number of 145 new F-
16C/D fighters, which would take seven years. The program did not include new engines, which
if included would have increased the cost and given the F-16s better performance. Taiwan’s
Ministry of National Defense responded that the F-16A/B retrofit and the F-16C/D procurement
would meet different requirements, that the retrofit program would bring the F-16A/B’s
capabilities to 80% of those of F-16C/Ds, that some capabilities will be upgraded to be better than
those of the U.S. Air Force’s F-16 C/Ds, and that the cost would be budgeted over 12 years.
Moreover, more of Taiwan’s Air Force has been out of service, as it has upgraded in Taiwan 71 of
the 127 IDFs (in 2009-2013) and plans to upgrade the remaining 56 IDFs (in 2014-2016).
On July 13, 2012, Taiwan signed an agreement for the program, at a value of $3.7 billion. Some
concerns remained about Taiwan’s future supplemental funding and the fighter gap.143 The F-
16A/B fighter upgrade program is expected to be completed in 2021.
In early 2014, Taiwan expressed concern about whether the cost of its F-16A/B fighter upgrade
program would increase after the U.S. Air Force decided not to request funds in its FY2015
budget for the Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite (CAPES) program to upgrade U.S.
F-16 fighters. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kin Moy testified to Congress on March 14,
2014, that a decision on the U.S. CAPES program would not have a significant impact on
Taiwan’s F-16 upgrade program and that funding for Taiwan’s F-16 upgrades are covered by the
U.S.-Taiwan agreement on Taiwan’s upgrade program.144 The program continued on schedule.
Other Possible Future Arms Sales to Taiwan’s Military
In addition to the major systems discussed above, possible future arms sales to Taiwan include:145
• signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft (perhaps from Gulfstream, Raytheon, or
Cessna) for which Taiwan requested price and availability data in 2002;
• C-27J Spartan medium transport aircraft (sold by L3 Communications);
• F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), particularly the short take-off/vertical landing
(STOVL) version, produced by Lockheed Martin and foreign partners;
• Stryker armored wheeled vehicles (sold by General Dynamics);
• upgraded engines for F-16s (Pratt & Whitney or General Electric);

142 Consultations; and Wendell Minnick, “Taiwan Frustrated Over Stalled F-16 Effort,” Defense News, April 1, 2011.
143 Defense News, July 9, July 18, July 22 2012; U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Special Commentary,” July 18, 2012,
and “The Looming Taiwan Fighter Gap,” October 1, 2012; Lockheed Martin, press release, October 1, 2012.
144 House Foreign Affairs Committee, Hearing on “The Promise of the Taiwan Relations Act,” March 14, 2014.
145 Author’s consultations; Flight International, November 25-December 1, 2003; Jane’s Defense Review, January 14,
2004; U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, Defense and Aerospace Report, 1st Quarter 2004; Taiwan Defense Review, May
7, 2004; CNA, June 21, 2004; Flight International, July 13-19, 2004; Flight International, September 7-13, 2004;
Flight International, December 7-13, 2004; Taiwan Defense Review, December 30, 2004; AFP, March 8, 2005; JDW,
May 4, 2005; Defense News, May 7, 2007; Taipei Times, June 24, 2007; Lien-ho Pao, July 9, 2007; Defense News,
April 27, 2009; JDW, May 21, 2009; Defense News, June 15, August 17, 2009; Aviation Week & Space Technology,
September 14, 2009; CNA, January 11, 2010; Defense News, February 1, 2010; Defense News, April 16, 2012; Reuters,
October 31, 2014.
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• CH-53X minesweeping helicopters (developed by Sikorsky);
• T-6C trainer aircraft to replace T-34C trainers (sold by Beechcraft);
• Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) (sold by Raytheon);
• Sensor Fuse Weapon for the Air Force (sold by Textron Systems);
• Armor Security Vehicle for the Military Police (sold by Textron Systems);
• Upgrades of Lafayette-class frigates, other ships, and Sea Dragon submarines;
• Air traffic control system for Taiwan’s Air Force (sold by ITT);
• Perry-class frigates (as Excess Defense Articles from the U.S. Navy);
• Newport-class landing ship tank (as Excess Defense Articles);
• Athena C4ISR situational awareness system (sold by Raytheon);
• Aegis Ashore, land-based missile defense system (sold by Lockheed Martin);
• Sky Warrior tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (sold by General Atomics);
• MH-60R Seahawk ASW helicopters (sold by Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin);
• Combat management system for mine-hunters (sold by Lockheed Martin).
Policy Issues for Congress
Since the early 1990s, and accelerated after the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1995-1996, the PLA has
modernized with a missile buildup and foreign arms acquisitions, primarily from Russia.146 As a
result of the PLA’s provocative exercises and missile test-firings in 1995 and 1996 that were
directed against Taiwan, Congress has increasingly asserted its role vis-a-vis the Administration
in determining security assistance for Taiwan, as stipulated by Section 3(b) of the TRA, as well as
in exercising its oversight of Section 2(b)(6) of the TRA on the U.S. capacity to resist any resort
to force or other forms of coercion against Taiwan. Congress increasingly asserted its role in
determining arms sales to Taiwan before sales were decided. An added issue, particularly since
2008, has concerned the process for considering Taiwan’s requests and notifications to Congress.
Moreover, Section 3(c) of the TRA requires the President to inform Congress “promptly” of any
threat to “the security or the social or economic system” of the people on Taiwan and any danger
to U.S. interests, so that the President together with Congress shall determine the appropriate U.S.
response. Nonetheless, in March 1996, during the Taiwan Strait Crisis when President Clinton
deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups near Taiwan, the State Department testified that the
situation did not constitute a “threat to the security or the social or economic system” of Taiwan
and did not invoke Section 3(c) for a congressional role.147 Policy issues center on how
effectively the Administration has helped Taiwan’s self-defense, Congress’s role in determining
security assistance to Taiwan, and whether aspects of U.S. security assistance are stabilizing or
destabilizing and should be adjusted based on changing conditions. Overall, the question for
policy has concerned whether and how to disengage from or increase engagement with Taiwan.

146 See the Defense Department’s annual reports to Congress on PRC Military Power.
147 Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Winston Lord, before the House International
Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, hearing on “Crisis in the Taiwan Strait: Implications for U.S. Foreign
Policy,” March 14, 1996, 104th Congress.
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Extent of U.S. Commitment to Help Taiwan’s Self-Defense
The persistent question for U.S. decision-makers in the military, Administration, and Congress is
whether the United States would go to war with the PRC over Taiwan and the purpose of any
conflict. The question of U.S. assistance for Taiwan’s defense involves two aspects: intention
(political commitment) and military capability to assist Taiwan’s self-defense. The TRA did not
replace the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1954 that ended in 1979. Nonetheless, some have called for
a clear commitment (to shore up deterrence and help Taiwan’s self-defense), advanced arms sales,
interoperability with Taiwan’s military, combined operational training and planning, high-level
meetings, and visits by U.S. flag and general officers to Taiwan. Others have argued that the
United States should avoid a war with China and needs a cooperative China to address a number
of global problems and that the United States should reconsider arms sales to Taiwan (either as
leverage against political moves or as a hindrance to a political settlement). Another option would
be to limit U.S. assistance to arms sales and related transfers while not committing U.S. forces.
In March 1996, President Clinton deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups near Taiwan in
response to the PLA’s provocative missile test-firings and exercises in the Taiwan Strait Crisis of
1995-1996. Another question arose in April 2001 when President Bush initially said that he would
do “whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself” if China attacked.
Supporters viewed such clarity as needed to prevent miscalculations in Beijing and deter attacks
against Taiwan. However, critics argued that Bush encouraged provocations from Taipei, even if
the message was not meant for Taiwan, and weakened willingness in Taiwan to strengthen its own
defense. Later, when Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian advocated referendums and a new
constitution, President Bush said that “the comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan
indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the status quo, which we
oppose,” in appearing with PRC Premier Wen Jiabao in the Oval Office on December 9, 2003.
At a hearing in April 2004, in answer to Representative Gary Ackerman’s questions about
whether President Bush’s phrase on “whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself” meant that
the United States would go to war with China if Taiwan made unilateral moves toward
independence, Assistant Secretary James Kelly stated that what the president said had a meaning
“at the time he says it to those listeners,” the United States intended to fulfill the responsibilities
under the TRA “to the extent necessary,” the United States opposed “actions that would
unilaterally alter Taiwan’s status,” leaders in Taiwan “misunderstood” if they believed that
President Bush supported whatever they did, and “decisions of war and peace are made by the
president with consultation with Congress.” Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman replied
that President Bush’s phrase was a reaffirmation of the TRA, which left a certain “ambiguity.”
Rodman also warned Beijing that its use of force would “inevitably” involve the United States.148
In December 2004, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage also clarified the U.S. defense
commitment by saying, “we have the requirement with the Taiwan Relations Act to keep
sufficient force in the Pacific to be able to deter attack. We are not required to defend. And these
are questions that actually reside with the U.S. Congress, who has to declare an act of war.”149
On June 8, 2005, President Bush qualified U.S. assistance for Taiwan’s self-defense by saying
that “If China were to invade unilaterally, we would rise up in the spirit of the Taiwan Relations

148 House International Relations Committee, “The Taiwan Relations Act: The Next 25 Years,” April 21, 2004.
149 Richard Armitage, Interview with PBS, December 10, 2004.
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Act. If Taiwan were to declare independence unilaterally, it would be a unilateral decision, that
would then change the U.S. equation, the U.S. look at ... the decision-making process.”150
In September 2005, the Defense Department further clarified the mutual obligations under the
TRA and limits to the U.S. ability to assist Taiwan. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Richard
Lawless issued a speech, stressing the TRA’s focus on Taiwan’s self-defense. He declared that,
inherent in the intent and logic of the TRA is the expectation that Taiwan will be able to
mount a viable self-defense. For too long, the Taiwan Relations Act has been referenced
as purely a U.S. obligation.... Under the TRA, the U.S. is obligated to “enable” Taiwan to
maintain a sufficient self-defense, but the reality is, it is Taiwan that is obligated to have a
sufficient self-defense. There is an explicit expectation in the TRA that Taiwan is ready,
willing, and able to maintain its self-defense. Taiwan must fulfill its unwritten, but clearly
evident obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act by appropriately providing for its
own defense while not simply relying on the U.S.’s capacity to address a threat in the
Strait. The TRA requires both parties to do their part to deter aggression or coercion vis-
a-vis Taiwan.151
A co-chair of the House Taiwan Caucus, Representative Steve Chabot, stated on September 27,
2005, at the Heritage Foundation that Taiwan was only one ally and that it was principally
Taiwan’s responsibility to defend itself. He said that it was “frustrating” and “disappointing” to
many Members of Congress that Taiwan delayed passage of the Special Budget on arms
procurement. He warned that if Taiwan did not pass the Special Budget, many Members of
Congress would “re-evaluate the extent of support for Taiwan.”
Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian announced on February 27, 2006, that he would “terminate”
the National Unification Council, again raising questions about new tensions. Senator John
Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told Admiral William Fallon, PACOM
Commander, at a hearing on March 7, 2006, that “if conflict were precipitated by just
inappropriate and wrongful politics generated by the Taiwanese elected officials, I’m not entirely
sure that this nation would come full force to their rescue if they created that problem.” On April
24, 2007, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee with the new PACOM
commander, Admiral Timothy Keating, Senator Warner said Taiwan should not play the “TRA
card” when the U.S. military was engaged heavily in the world.
After the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou became President in May 2008, he resumed cross-strait dialogue
for the first time in a decade and pursued closer economic and other engagement with the PRC.
Aside from contrasting with the cross-strait tension under his predecessor who was perceived as
pushing for Taiwan’s de jure independence, President Ma went further in May 2010 when he
ruled out possible U.S. military deployments to help Taiwan’s self-defense. Ma said that Taiwan
will continue to purchase U.S. weapons, while Taiwan “will never ask the Americans to fight for
Taiwan.” In addition to stating this point in a reporter’s interview, President Ma reiterated this
stance in an attempt to assure visiting Senator Dianne Feinstein the next month.152

150 President George W. Bush, “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” Fox News, June 8, 2005.
151 A DSCA official, Ed Ross, read the speech on September 19, 2005, in San Diego, CA, at the Defense Industry
Conference of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, while Lawless was delayed in Beijing at the Six-Party Talks on
North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
152 President Ma’s interview with CNN, published on May 1, 2010; author’s consultation, Taipei, June 2010.
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Changes in PLA Missile Deployments and Other CBMs
There has been interest among U.S. academic circles and think tanks for Washington to pursue
talks with Beijing on its military buildup and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan (instead of simply
enhancing security assistance to Taiwan).153 One catalyst for this debate arose out of the U.S.-
PRC summit in Crawford, TX, on October 25, 2002. As confirmed to Taiwan’s legislature by its
envoy to Washington, C.J. Chen, and reported in Taiwan’s media, then-PRC ruler Jiang Zemin
offered in vague terms a freeze or reduction in China’s deployment of missiles targeted at Taiwan,
in return for restraint in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.154 President Bush reportedly did not respond
directly to Jiang’s linkage. Editorials in Taiwan were divided on whether to pursue Jiang’s offer.
Some argued that confidence building measures (CBMs), such as a reduction in actual
deployments of the PLA’s missile and other units, would improve the chances for cross-strait
political dialogue on Taiwan’s status and lead to sustained stability. They said that the United
States could explore or even negotiate with the PRC how it might reduce the threat against
Taiwan, such as dismantling missile brigades in a verifiable manner, since sales of U.S. systems
are based on Taiwan’s defense needs. They argued that Jiang’s offer represented the first time that
the PRC offered meaningfully to discuss its forces opposite Taiwan. Others said that a freeze or
redeployment of missiles would not eliminate the PRC’s continuing and broader military threat
against Taiwan (including mobile missiles that can be re-deployed) and that the PRC should hold
direct talks with leaders in Taipei instead. They argued that Jiang did not seek to reduce the PLA’s
coercive threat but to undermine the relationship between Washington and Taipei, including arms
sales which take years to complete. They noted that the PLA’s missile buildup has continued.
One issue for congressional oversight has concerned whether and how the President might deal
with Beijing on the question of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan in the context of increasing cross-strait
dialogue. Policy considerations include the TRA, the 1982 Joint Communique (which discussed
reductions in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan premised on the PRC’s “peaceful unification” policy),
and the 1982 “Six Assurances” to Taiwan (including one of not holding prior consultations with
the PRC on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan). At a hearing in March 2001, Secretary of State Colin
Powell assured Senator Helms that the “Six Assurances” would remain U.S. policy and that the
Administration would not favor consulting the PRC on arms sales to Taiwan.155 The Bush
Administration reportedly did not counter Jiang’s verbal offer, noting the accelerated missile
buildup, continued military threats against Taiwan, the need for the PRC to talk directly to
Taiwan, the TRA, and the “Six Assurances” to Taiwan. Nonetheless, in April 2004, Assistant
Secretary of State James Kelly testified at a hearing that if the PRC meets its stated obligations to
pursue a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue and matches its rhetoric with a military posture
that bolsters and supports peaceful approaches to Taiwan, “it follows logically that Taiwan’s

153 See David Lampton and Richard Daniel Ewing, “U.S.-China Relations in a Post-September 11th World,” Nixon
Center, August 2002; David Shambaugh’s arguments at conference by Carnegie Endowment, Stanford University,
Center for Strategic and International Studies, and National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, on “Taiwan and U.S.
Policy: Toward Stability or Crisis?,” October 9, 2002; Michael Swaine, “Reverse Course? The Fragile Turnaround in
U.S.-China Relations,” Carnegie Endowment Policy Brief, February 2003; David Lampton, “The Stealth
Normalization of U.S.-China Relations,” National Interest, Fall 2003; Michael Swaine, “China, Taiwan, U.S.: Status
Quo Challenged,” National Interest, October 11, 2011.
154 Chung-Kuo Shih-Pao [China Times], Taipei, November 22, 2002; Taipei Times, November 23, 2002.
155 Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hearing on U.S. Foreign Policy, March 8, 2001.
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defense requirements will change.”156 In May 2005, an official PRC newspaper reported that the
PLA continued to debate the question of whether to “withdraw” missiles opposite Taiwan.157
China has continued its buildup of short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), whose “adequate
precision guidance” could destroy key leadership facilities, military bases, and communication
and transportation nodes with “minimal advanced warning,” warned the Pentagon’s 2004 annual
report to Congress on PRC military power. Later, the Secretary of Defense reported to Congress
that by late 2008, the PLA deployed opposite Taiwan an arsenal of 1,050-1,150 mobile M-9 and
M-11 SRBMs. That build-up increased by 60-80 SRBMs from 2007, less than the previously
reported increase of about 100 missiles a year. The Defense Secretary reported to Congress in
2014 that at the end of 2013, the PLA had more than 1,000 SRBMs. While the expansion in the
number of SRBMs seemed to have slowed, the newer, more advanced missiles (that replaced
older missiles) have precision strike capability with longer ranges, better accuracy, and various
conventional warheads.158 Moreover, the PLA has deployed cruise as well as ballistic missiles. At
a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on June 16, 2010, Senator
Feinstein asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates about any changes in the PLA’s posture against
Taiwan, and he testified that there continued to be an “extraordinary” deployment by the PLA of
cruise as well as ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan. The PLA reportedly has the world’s largest
force of ground-launched land attack cruise missiles (LACMs), with about 100 LACMs entering
the operational force each year and up to 500 CJ-10 LACMs by 2014.159
Potential CBMs between the PLA and Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) gained
more attention after the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou became President in Taipei in May 2008 and
Communist Party of China (CPC) General Secretary Hu Jintao in Beijing issued a speech in
December 2008 with six points that included a proposal similar to Ma’s, namely, “to end the state
of hostility and reach a peace agreement, including exploring the establishment of a mechanism
of mutual trust for military security.” There are many possible steps that could constitute CBMs,
including changes in the PLA’s deployment of some ballistic and cruise missiles.
One issue for U.S. policy concerns how the increasing cross-strait dialogue concerning and
potential conduct of such CBMs positively and negatively might affect U.S. interests, with or
without Taipei’s consultation with Washington. Another issue asks whether the United States
should encourage or play another role in the increasing cross-strait dialogues that potentially
include such CBMs. In September 2009, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg stated that
the Obama Administration “encouraged” the PRC and Taiwan to explore CBMs that would lead
to closer ties and greater stability across the strait. His encouragement of CBMs raised
expectations of an active U.S. role and injected new U.S. pressure in a sensitive domestic debate
in Taiwan over whether such CBMs are premature at this time and would serve Taiwan’s security
interests. In contrast, later in the month, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific
Security Affairs Wallace Gregson said that “we are encouraged by the PRC’s reciprocity in
encouraging renewed interactions in cultural and economic affairs, but we have not yet seen
similar progress or dialogue in military affairs. We encourage both sides to consider such steps at
the appropriate time and in a mutually agreed manner.” Gregson also urged Taiwan to stress

156 House International Relations Committee, hearing on “The TRA: The Next 25 Years,” April 21, 2004.
157 Qingnian Cankao [Youth Reference News], Beijing, May 26, 2005.
158 Secretary of Defense, “Annual Report on the Military Power of the People’s Republic of China,” May 29, 2004;
“Military Power of the People’s Republic of China, 2009,” March 25, 2009; “Military and Security Developments
Involving the PRC, 2014,” June 5, 2014.
159 Project 2049 Institute, “Evolving Aerospace Trends in the Asia-Pacific Region,” May 25, 2010; China’s Evolving
Reconnaissance-Strike Capabilities,” February 2014.
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“asymmetrical advantages” in its defense. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and
Pacific Affairs David Shear echoed those measured words, saying that his department did not
want to push Taiwan to hold CBMs and that they should occur at a pace acceptable to Taiwan’s
people. At a summit in Beijing in November, Presidents Obama and Hu issued a Joint Statement
in which the United States did not use “encouragement” of cross-strait CBMs. As worded, the
United States “welcomes the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait and looks
forward to efforts by both sides to increase dialogues and interactions in economic, political, and
other fields, and develop more positive and stable cross-Strait relations.”160
Presidents Ma and Hu’s proposals for CBMs and a “peace accord” have been considered in a
controversial debate in Taiwan (including between civilian and military officials) concerning
whether CBMs with the PLA serve Taiwan’s security interests and whether those interests are
better served in securing U.S. arms and other defense-related support that Taiwan’s officials
believe are necessary for the confidence to deal with Beijing. Some in Taiwan worry that CBMs
with the PLA could lead to the PLA’s stronger leverage at the expense of U.S.-Taiwan defense-
related ties. There is also the question of whether Taiwan’s expectations of a greater U.S. role
could be met. In October 2009, Shuai Hua-ming, a key KMT Member of the Legislative Yuan in
Taipei who is a retired Lieutenant General of the Army, questioned the U.S. commitment to help
Taiwan’s self-defense under the TRA (with delays and cost increases in arms programs), the push
by some in Taiwan to build trust through triangular talks among Taiwan, China, and the United
States (rather than traditional trust between Taiwan and the United States), and the will of
Taiwan’s military leadership to reform with new concepts of training, jointness, warfighting, and
strategy (not simply using defensive weapons with no combat experience for decades).161
On November 2, 2009, the international Sun Tzu conference took place in Beijing with the
attendance of Jia Qinglin, a Member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CPC and
with discussion of cross-strait CBMs. The PLA’s Major General Luo Yuan of the Academy of
Military Science (AMS) and a few of Taiwan’s retired generals attended the conference.162 On
November 13-14, organizations with ties to officials of the two sides of the strait held the first
conference in Taiwan to discuss economic, political, and security engagement, including CBMs
and a peace accord. The PRC delegation attending the conference called “60 Years Across the
Taiwan Strait” included Zheng Bijian, former vice president of the CPC’s Central Party School,
Yu Keli of the Institute of Taiwan Studies, retired Major General Pan Zhenqiang of the PLA’s
National Defense University, and retired PLA Lieutenant General Li Jijun of the Association for
the Study of Sun Tzu’s Art of War (and formerly at AMS and the CMC’s General Office). Li Jijun
said that the two sides could discuss the PLA’s missiles only based on the “1992 Consensus”
(rephrasing of “one China, different interpretations”) and opposition to Taiwan’s independence,
and he also acknowledged that withdrawal of missiles would be meaningless since they are

160 James Steinberg, “Administration’s Vision of the U.S.-China Relationship,” September 24, 2009; Wallace Gregson,
“Remarks to the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council Defense Industry Conference,” September 28, 2009; White House,
“U.S.-China Joint Statement,” November 17, 2009.
161 Author’s discussions. Also: Shuai Hua-ming, “Taiwan-U.S.-PRC CBM: From LY and Long-term Cross-Strait
Defense Security Observer’s Perspective,” October 2009. As an example of Steinberg’s “encouragement” of CBMs
raising expectations in Taiwan of a U.S. role that could or could not be met, Chen I-hsin, a professor in Taiwan at
Tamkang University who is also a vice president at the Foundation on Asia-Pacific Peace Studies (a think tank with
support from President Ma and other officials that is studying cross-strait CBMs) wrote “U.S. Roles in the Cross-Strait
Relations and Taiwan’s Democracy,” a paper for the International Conference on Obama’s New Policy – New
Situation in Asia Pacific and the Future Development of Taiwan, October 31, 2009, Legislative Yuan, Taipei. On June
15, 2010, an advisor on defense policy in the KMT and retired vice admiral, Lan Ning-li, published an article in Lien-
ho Pao
to criticize the many groups of Taiwan’s retired generals visiting the PRC as its “pawns” to push for CBMs.
162 Lien-Ho Pao [United Daily News], Taipei, November 3, 2009.
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mobile. At the end of July 2010, the PLA responded publicly for the first time to Taiwan’s
demand that the PLA withdraw missiles. However, the PLA said that the two sides of the strait
would discuss both of their military deployments in discussions of setting up CBMs. Moreover,
the PLA could retain the threat of force or coercion as a political tool to influence Taiwan.
Taiwan’s expectation for cross-strait military CBMs has not been consistent and has remained
politically sensitive, especially concerning controversial visits by retired generals and admirals to
the PRC. Nonetheless, in March 2010, Taiwan’s MND set up a new Office of Defense Studies
(linked to the Integrated Assessment Office) also acting as the preparatory office for a think tank.
It has studied military contacts with the PLA. In Beijing in November 2012, the CPC General
Secretary’s report at the 18th Communist Party Congress stressed CBMs with Taiwan. However,
Taiwan’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) of March 2013 cautioned that the conditions for
CBMs have not matured, while MND would carefully study the feasibility of future steps.
Taiwan’s Commitment to Self-Defense and Defense Budgets
Congress has oversight of the Administration’s dialogue with Taiwan about its self-defense and
military budgets. Congress also has discussed with Taiwan these responsibilities. Since 2002,
some have expressed increasing concerns about Taiwan’s commitment to its self-defense, lack of
leadership and consensus on national defense, investments in defense transformation beyond
requests for U.S. platforms, and limited contributions in international security. Some U.S.
observers and officials have urged Taiwan’s civilian and military leaders to place more urgent
priority on upgrading Taiwan’s self-defense capability and to increase defense spending, while
noting that Taiwan has planned an independent defense (since it cannot assume foreign help).163
The Pentagon’s report on PRC Military Power submitted to Congress in 2002 said that reforms in
Taiwan’s military were needed to achieve a joint service capability to meet the growing challenge
from the PLA’s modernizing air, naval, and missile forces, but warned that “the defense budget’s
steady decline as a percentage of total government spending will challenge Taiwan’s force
modernization.” The Pentagon’s report issued in 2003 further stressed that the relative decline in
Taiwan’s defense budget “increasingly” will challenge its force modernization. The Defense
Secretary’s report on the PLA submitted to Congress in 2011 critiqued (for the first time since
2007) that Taiwan’s “budget shortfalls” challenged efforts to professionalize the military, that
Taiwan’s relatively modest defense spending failed to keep pace with the PRC’s ambitious
military developments, and that increased costs to attract volunteer, professional personnel could
divert funds from arms acquisitions as well as near-term training and readiness, even with
“eroding” defenses.164 In answers provided for the Senate Armed Services Committee’s hearing
on February 9, 2012, on his nomination to be PACOM Commander, Admiral Samuel Locklear III
replied to the committee’s question on whether Taiwan is investing appropriately in its defense:

163 Peter Brookes, “The Challenges and Imperatives in Taiwan’s Defense,” Heritage Lectures, January 9, 2003; John
Tkacik, “Taiwan Must Get Serious About Defense,” Defense News, January 27, 2003; John Tkacik, “Taiwan Must
Grasp on True Defense Needs,” Defense News, December 1, 2003; Wendell Minnick, “Taiwan Procurement in
Shambles,” Defense News, March 19, 2007; Randall Schriver, “Defense: Time to Take Ownership,” Taipei Times,
April 4, 2007; Ted Galen Carpenter, “Taiwan’s Free Ride on U.S. Defense,” Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2007; AEI
and Project 2049 Institute (Taiwan Policy Working Group), “Deter, Defend, Repel, and Partner,” July 2009; Wall
Street Journal
editorial, “In Taiwan’s Defense,” November 17, 2010.
164 Secretary of Defense, “Annual Report on the Military Power of the People’s Republic of China,” July 12, 2002;
“Report on PRC Military Power,” July 30, 2003; “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic
of China, 2011,” August 24, 2011.
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Taiwan must ensure that it adequately resources its defense programs and defense
transformation, to include looking at increasing its defense budget. I believe the best way
to encourage Taiwan to invest more in its military is to send strong and consistent
messages from the U.S. Government to Taiwan.
In a statement issued on February 8, 2013, at the Heritage Foundation, Senator John Cornyn
stressed that Taipei must find the political will to increase Taiwan’s defense budget, which was
cut each year from 2009 through 2011.
Meanwhile, the PRC has increased its military budgets, budgets that the Defense Department has
assessed as understating actual defense-related expenditures (by excluding funds for weapons
development, foreign arms purchases, etc.). Still, the PRC’s defense budget can be used as one
indicator of the priority placed on the PLA’s modernization. China contends that the defense
budget is coordinated with economic development and accounts for only 1.3% of GDP. While
that has been largely the case since 2001, China’s rapid economic expansion has provided
significantly greater resources for the PLA. China’s defense budget has doubled about every five
years. The PRC’s announced defense budgets have provided a sustained trend of mostly double-
digit percentage increases in real terms since 1997 (after the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1995-1996),
except for 2004, 2009, 2012, and 2013. In March 2013, China announced a 2013 defense budget
of US$116.2 billion. According to the Defense Secretary’s June 2014 report to Congress on the
PLA, the PRC’s total military-related spending (not just the budget) exceeded $145 billion in
2013. Also, China’s defense budget grew at an average rate of 9.4% each year in inflation-
adjusted terms from 2004 to 2013. The PRC announced a budget of $132 billion for 2014.
Table 1. Taiwan’s Defense Budgets
Defense Budget
Defense Budget
% of Total
Fiscal year
(NT$ bil.)
(US$ bil.)
% of GDP
Budget
1994 258.5
9.8 3.8
24.3
1995 252.3
9.5 3.5
24.5
1996 258.3
9.5 3.4
22.8
1997 268.8
9.4 3.3
22.5
1998 274.8
8.2 3.2
22.4
1999 284.5
8.8 3.2
21.6
2000 402.9
12.9 2.9
17.4
2001 269.8
8.0 2.9
16.5
2002 260.4
7.5 2.7
16.4
2003 257.2
7.6 2.6
15.5
2004 261.9
7.8 2.4
16.7
2005 258.5
8.0 2.3
16.1
2006 252.5
7.8 2.1
16.1
2007 304.9
9.2 2.4
18.7
2008 341.1
10.5 2.5
20.2
2009 318.7
9.6 2.7
17.6
2010 297.4
9.3 2.2
17.3
2011 294.6
10.2 2.1
16.5
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Defense Budget
Defense Budget
% of Total
Fiscal year
(NT$ bil.)
(US$ bil.)
% of GDP
Budget
2012 317.3
10.6 2.2
16.4
2013 312.7
10.5 2.1
16.4
2014 311.1
10.4 2.0
16.2
Notes: This table was compiled using data on the regular, annual defense budgets provided by the ROC’s
Ministry of National Defense, author’s consultation, news reports, and data on GDP and exchange rates
reported for that year by Global Insight. The local currency is the New Taiwan Dol ar (NT$). The FY2000
budget covered the 18-month period from July 1999 to December 2000. Taiwan also has separate funding for
indirect defense-related spending (e.g., for retired veterans, military construction, etc.).
U.S. Frustrations and Shifts
In Taiwan, some legislators argued in various ways that Taiwan’s defense spending was
sufficiently significant, that the legislature in a democracy has the right to scrutinize the defense
budget, that economic challenges constrained defense spending, and that Taiwan did not need
U.S. weapons in an accommodation with the PRC. The U.S. approvals of significant arms sales in
2001 came in the one year of negative real change in Taiwan’s GDP (-2.2%). Also, Taiwan’s
officials and legislators pointed out that Taiwan had funded defense out of separate Special
Budgets in addition to the regular (annual) defense budgets. Taiwan’s Special Budgets for defense
in 1994-2003 totaled US$22.6 billion and funded procurement of fighter aircraft and military
housing construction. In 2003, anti-American attacks in Taiwan targeted perceived U.S.
“pressure,” “extortion,” “sucker’s arms deals,” and “arms dealers’ profits.”165
In June 2003, Deputy Defense Minister Lin Chong-pin and a Defense Committee delegation led
by LY President Wang Jin-pyng visited Washington to reassure the Administration and Congress
that Taiwan remained committed to its self-defense.166 A former official in the Pentagon involved
in arms sales wrote in 2006 that the impasse over Taiwan’s defense spending did not symbolize a
lack of commitment to self-defense. Mark Stokes contended that the Bush Administration’s
policy on arms sales to Taiwan was right, but it came at the wrong time.167
Taiwan’s regular defense budget for 2004 was about US$7.8 billion, which accounted for 2.4% of
GDP and 16.7% of the total government budget, as compared with 3.8% of GDP and 24.3% of
total spending in 1994. (See Table 1.) These relative declines took place even as the Pentagon
warned of an increased threat posed by the PLA to Taiwan, U.S. support for Taiwan increased
after the 1995-1996 crisis, and the PLA obtained higher budgets. For 2005, Taiwan’s Defense
Ministry requested a budget of NT$260.7 billion, a reduction of NT$3.1 billion from that in 2004,
and the final 2005 defense budget was NT$258.5 billion (about US$8.0 billion).168
In April 2004, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman told
Congress that the Pentagon believed Taiwan’s military needed to improve readiness, planning,
and interoperability among its services.169 In a speech in October 2004, Deputy Under Secretary

165 United Daily News, April 21, 2003; China Times, May 8, 2003, and August 18, 2003.
166 Meeting at CRS with Lin Chong-pin and congressional staff, June 5, 2003; Luncheon at the Heritage Foundation
with Taiwan’s legislative delegation led by Wang Jin-pyng, June 24, 2003; TECRO, Taipei Update, July 22, 2003.
167 Mark Stokes, “Taiwan’s Security: Beyond the Special Budget,” AEI, March 27, 2006.
168 Consultations in Taipei and Washington; and FBIS report, October 22, 2004.
169 Testimony before the House International Relations Committee, hearing on “The Taiwan Relations Act: The Next
25 Years,” April 21, 2004.
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of Defense Richard Lawless urged Taiwan’s legislature to “vote in favor of Taiwan’s national
security.”170 In a strong tone, he warned that the Special Budget was a “litmus test” of Taiwan’s
commitment to self-defense and that “inability” to pass the Special Budget would have “serious
long-term consequences” (for foreign support, further intimidation from Beijing, and perceptions
of Taiwan as a “liability”). Shifting the U.S. stress, Lawless called for Taiwan to expand its efforts
from national defense to national security, and to pay attention to countering coercion, crisis
management, and critical infrastructure protection (CIP) (of national command centers,
telecommunications, energy, water, media, computer networks, etc.). In February 2005, Lawless
warned that Taiwan’s failure to approve the Special Budget signaled that it lacked seriousness
about its own security, raising questions about whether U.S. support has been necessary or not.171
On May 24, 2005, the LY’s Procedure Committee failed to place the Special Budget on the
legislative calendar, blocking consideration before the session’s end on May 31. On May 27,
Representative Rob Simmons and 32 other House Members wrote to KMT chairman Lien Chan,
urging him to help expedite passage of the Special Budget in May. They warned that “failure to
pass the special budget has raised concerns in the United States about Taiwan’s ability to defend
itself against potential aggression.”172 However, Lien responded in a three-page letter by making
partisan attacks on the DPP and President Chen Shui-bian, and criticisms of the Special Budget
although the KMT used special budgets in the 1990s.173
Then, on August 1, 2005, three co-chairs of the House Taiwan Caucus wrote to Ma Ying-jeou as
the new KMT Chairman. They urged him to “lead efforts in Taipei to ensure that the LY quickly
passes a special arms procurement package or increases its annual defense spending.” They also
invited Ma to visit Washington.174 Ma responded as the Mayor of Taipei on August 18 (one day
before becoming KMT Chairman) by blaming the DPP Administration for “procrastinating for
three years,” “negligence,” and “lack of leadership,” with no mention of Wang Jin-pyng’s LY
delegation in June 2004. Ma promised to focus his attention on the issue and to “work closely
with the KMT caucus” in the LY after taking over the KMT chairmanship. He declined to visit in
September, writing that the LY will “address tough bills like the arms procurement bill.”175
When asked about the LY’s delay in deciding to purchase U.S. weapons, Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld said in August 2005 that under the TRA, the U.S. obligation was “to work with
Taiwan” on security assistance, but it was up to Taiwan make its own decisions.176 On September
19, Deputy Under Secretary Lawless issued another strong speech, this time directed at Taiwan’s
people and saying that he was not urging the passage of the Special Budget because it has become
a political “distraction.” Lawless applauded the goal of increasing the defense budget to 3% of
GDP. He warned of the danger that “Taiwan’s steadily declining defense budgets, and the
resulting erosion in its own defense capabilities, also adversely affect the status quo,” in addition
to the PLA build-up. He expressed the U.S. expectation that Taiwan has the “collective will to

170 Richard Lawless, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs, Keynote Address, U.S.-Taiwan
Defense Industry Conference, U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, October 4, 2004, Scottsdale, AZ. One of the ROC’s
Deputy Ministers of Defense, General Huoh Shou-Yeh, attended the conference.
171 Taipei Times, February 26, 2005; Lawless gave a speech that was not publicly released, apparently at a meeting in
Washington of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council.
172 Representative Rob Simmons, et al., letter to Chairman Lien Chan, Kuomintang, May 27, 2005.
173 Lien Chan, Chairman of the KMT, letter to Rep. Simmons, et al., June 8, 2005.
174 Letter from Representatives Robert Wexler, Steve Chabot, and Sherrod Brown (without Dana Rohrabacher) to Ma
Ying-jeou, KMT Chairman, August 1, 2005.
175 Letter to the Taiwan Caucus from Ma Ying-jeou, Mayor of Taipei, August 18, 2005.
176 Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, news briefing, August 23, 2005.
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invest in a viable defense to address a growing threat and be in a position to negotiate the future
of cross-strait relations from a position of strength.” He criticized the military for “short-changing
itself on reserves of critical munitions” and inadequate “hardening” for defense. Lawless stressed
that, under the TRA, Taiwan also has an obligation for its self-defense. He warned that:
the time of reckoning is upon us.... The U.S. ability to contribute to Taiwan’s defense in a
crisis is going to be measured against Taiwan’s ability to resist, defend, and survive based
on its own capabilities.... As the lone superpower, our interests are plentiful and our
attention short. We cannot help defend you, if you cannot defend yourself.177
Separately, PACOM Commander, Admiral William Fallon, raised questions in press articles and
interviews about his assessment of whether Taiwan should prioritize its limited defense resources
on “defensive” weapons rather than submarines, given Taiwan’s urgent need to effectively
upgrade its self-defense. Admiral Fallon reportedly raised this question with Taiwan’s Chief of
General Staff, General Lee Tien-yu, who recently had visited Hawaii. Admiral Fallon also told the
United Daily News his concern that if he was to be able to maintain the U.S. commitment to assist
Taiwan’s defense, then Taiwan should have a strong self-defense capability.178 On October 26,
2005, eight Members, led by Representative Simmons, asked Admiral Fallon to explain his
discussions with Taiwan on submarines. Admiral Fallon responded that he has not tried to
discourage this purchase. He added, however, that PACOM has “strongly and consistently
encouraged [Taiwan] to acquire capabilities that would have an immediate impact on [its]
defense,” and “while submarines would provide Taiwan with significant capabilities, a lengthy
period of time would be needed to fulfill this long-term acquisition program.”179
On October 29, 2005, at the transfer ceremony for the first two Kidd-class destroyers, Marine
Brigadier General John Allen, Principal Director for Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, gave a speech, saying that “it is imperative that the people of Taiwan hold
their leaders of all political parties accountable for reaching a consensus to increase defense
spending,” while it was not appropriate for the United States to tell Taiwan what “budgeting
mechanism” to use. The U.S. role, he said, was to provide the “assistance necessary” to help
Taiwan’s strategy for stability, “but at the end of the day, it is Taiwan that must decide its fate.”
Raising frustrations in the Bush Administration and Congress that Taiwan was not placing priority
on self-defense, it became increasingly doubtful in 2005 that the LY would vote on a Special
Budget and fund it at the full level, even if it would be considered. Meanwhile, the United States
had increased concerns about and shifted focus to the regular defense budget and other questions
about Taiwan’s self-defense. In the first notification to Congress on arms sales to Taiwan since
March 2004, the Defense Department in October 2005 put a new stress on the TRA’s objective,
which was to assist Taiwan to provide for its “own self-defense.” Like Lawless, the Director of
DSCA, Air Force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kohler, also highlighted Taiwan’s inadequate
attention to its stocks of air-defense missiles and other munitions as well as pending decisions on
defense spending, in an interview in December 2005.180

177 Speech issued on September 19, 2005, in San Diego, CA, at the Defense Industry Conference of the U.S.-Taiwan
Business Council, while Richard Lawless was delayed in Beijing at the Six-Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear
weapons. Edward Ross, a DSCA official, delivered the speech for Richard Lawless.
178 Japan Times, September 26, 2005 [reprinted in Washington Times, October 8, 2005]; Liberty Times [Chinese-
language newspaper in Taipei], October 12, 2005, which named General Lee Tien-yu; Associated Press, October 14,
2005 [reprinted in Taipei Times, October 16, 2005]; and Lien-Ho Pao [United Daily News in Taipei], October 18, 2005.
179 Letter to Representative Simmons from Admiral William Fallon, November 8, 2005.
180 Jim Wolf, “Pentagon Official Says Taiwan Short on Weapons,” Reuters, December 7, 2005.
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In February 2006, Representative Rob Simmons visited Taipei and suggested a lower cost for the
submarine sale (perhaps $8 billion) and an interim step for Taiwan to procure a sub design
(perhaps $225 million). Also in February, Representative Henry Hyde, chairman of the House
International Relations Committee, sent a letter to Ma, citing “deep concern” in Congress about
the LY’s failure in the past two years to pass the Special Budget and about significant cuts in
other defense spending that would improve readiness. Hyde also wrote that Americans are left
wondering whether Taiwan’s legislators have the resolve to meet the challenges in providing for
Taiwan’s own defense.181 In a March 7 letter, Ma responded to Representative Hyde by blaming
the DPP Administration and promising his own policy in the near future.
At a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on March 9, 2006, in response to
Representative Simmons’ question about the submarine sale to Taiwan, Admiral William Fallon
expressed the dilemma for PACOM regarding Taiwan. Fallon said that he was:
in bit of a box here, because I’m committed to defend this country in the event of any
military aggression should that occur from the PRC, and yet the history is that they have
not been forthcoming in investing in their own defense.... What I’d like to see is some
steps being made, some investment by Taiwan to actually acquire some of these
capabilities and to boost their own readiness and ability to provide for their own defense.
While the House Taiwan Caucus, in August 2005, invited KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou to visit,
he scheduled a trip to Washington for March 22-23, 2006, while Congress was in recess. Before
his visit, Ma failed on March 14 to gain his party’s approval to issue a long-awaited policy on
defense and arms procurement. Ma had no details on his defense priorities in meetings (with U.S.
officials and private executives). While campaigning to be president, Ma issued a defense policy
in September 2007 that supported purchases of U.S. weapons, including submarines.
Goal of Budgets at 3% of GDP to Invest in Defense
With U.S. support, Taiwan’s leaders stated a goal of reversing the declining spending trends and
increasing the defense budget to 3% of GDP. However, Taiwan has failed to reach this goal.
In May 2005, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Lee Jye requested that the defense budget increase from
2.4% of GDP to 3.0% of GDP in the next five years.182 President Chen Shui-bian announced on
September 12, 2005, the goal of increasing the defense budget to 3% of GDP by 2008, and this
goal was stated in Taiwan’s first National Security Report issued by President Chen in May 2006.
In reaction to the report, the State Department issued a statement on May 19, 2006, to stress that
the United States encouraged “Taiwan to boost its defense spending, concentrating in particular
on immediate challenges of hardening and sustainability.” Later, the State Department’s Director
of the Taiwan office warned Taiwan’s political figures from opposition and ruling parties that
“leaders who aspire to represent the Taiwan people” to the United States should recognize that
their decisions “right now on core national security issues” will have an impact on the future
bilateral relationship. He also focused attention on how the LY would pass the 2007 defense
budget specifically “this fall.”183 Under DPP President Chen, Taiwan increased its defense
budgets in 2007 and 2008. Taiwan reversed the negative trend in the budget for the Ministry of

181 Letter from Henry Hyde to Ma Ying-jeou, Chairman of the KMT, February 15, 2006.
182 Taipei Times, May 24, 2005.
183 Clifford Hart, speech to the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference, September 12, 2006, Denver, CO.
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National Defense (MND), with an increase in 2007. A proposal to buy new F-16C/D fighters
made up a significant portion, NT$16.1 billion (US$488 million), of this increase.184
After the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou became president in May 2008, he retained the goal of defense
budgets at 3% of GDP, a commitment reaffirmed in Taiwan’s Quadrennial Defense Review
(QDR) of March 2009 and the National Defense Report of October 2009. The QDR also declared
an urgent imperative to participate more in regional security. However, President Ma cut Taiwan’s
defense budgets in 2009, 2010, and 2011, before providing a one-time increase in 2012. A claim
of economic constraint was belied by Taiwan’s high real economic growth of 11% in 2010 and
the passage of a special budget for 2011 for infrastructure of US$5.3 billion. When asked about
Taiwan’s cuts in the defense budgets during his address to the United States on May 12, 2011,
President Ma claimed that defense spending could not keep up with the rapid GDP growth.
Taiwan’s QDR of March 2013 dropped reference to the goal of spending at 3% of GDP and noted
that the defense budget as a share of the total government budget has declined year by year with
negative implications for recruitment and retention. The QDR reported that defense funding has
been constrained as even as the military needed more resources for the shift to volunteer
personnel, operation and maintenance of equipment, and acquisitions of weapons systems.
In addition to cuts in the budget, Taiwan’s military has returned unused budgeted funds when
there was no progress (no U.S. presidential notifications to Congress) on several arms sales
programs, including U.S. refusal to accept a formal request for F-16C/D fighters. Taiwan has
explained that unused funds that were returned to the central treasury meant subsequent cuts in
the defense budget. Still, Taiwan could have increased its defense budgets for recruitment and
retention of professional personnel, realistic training, ammunition stocks, hardening against
missile threats, and operation and maintenance of equipment. Taiwan’s military has faced
budgetary pressures in addition to the challenges of deterring the PLA’s continuing buildup,
securing support from Taiwan’s President for defense upgrades, and losing funds from
appropriated defense budgets due to delays that Taiwan did not expect in U.S. arms sales
programs. Taiwan’s MND regretted that it saw budgetary uncertainty and US$1.7 billion canceled
from its appropriations from 2007 to 2009 due to the lack of U.S. approvals for sales of the F-
16C/D fighters, a submarine design, and Black Hawk utility helicopters. Taiwan budgeted for
such programs to show its political commitment given the political fights in previous years. In
addition to having to return to the treasury about US$1.7 billion in unspent funds in the 2007-
2009 budgets, the Defense Ministry allocated in each of the 2010 and 2011 budgets about
US$130 million for F-16C/Ds and a sub design. MND allocated smaller amounts in 2012. MND
apparently returned almost US$2 billion to the treasury from the 2007-2012 defense budgets.
Also, President Ma has pressed the military to respond to disasters. MND spent about US$44
million for disaster relief in 2009-2011, without repayment by local governments or other parts of
the national government. MND has been concerned that it would have to delay the transition to a
volunteer force (requiring even more funds to recruit and retain professional personnel), cut
operation and maintenance funds (that could reduce readiness), postpone or cancel some arms
acquisitions (while keeping the commitment to fund U.S. arms acquisitions), further reduce the
force, or seek a special budget. Recruiting volunteers already faced a demographic challenge due
to Taiwan’s low birth rate (that dipped to a record low of 0.9 in 2010 and was at 1.1 in 2013).
President Ma finally raised the defense budget for 2012. In October 2011, the Cabinet submitted
to the LY the proposed defense budget for 2012 of NT$317.5 billion, an increase of 8% from the
2011 defense budget. In December, the LY passed the final budget of NT$317.3 billion (US$10.6

184 Author’s consultations with MND officials, September 2006.
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billion). However, higher costs for personnel (more volunteers) accounted for 49% of the defense
budget, reducing the portions for operation and maintenance to 22% and new procurements to
27%. The budget included amounts for procurement of U.S. systems, including the F-16A/B
upgrades (with the notification to Congress in September 2011), new F-16C/D fighters, and a
submarine design. Further, it did not start a trend of raising budgets to reverse the cuts, since this
budget increase of $755 million was boosted by the repayment of $875 million from Thales in a
lawsuit over the commission involved in the French company’s contract in 1991 to sell frigates.
Indeed, in the summer of 2012, the Ma Administration proposed the 2013 defense budget of
NT$314.5 billion, a drop from that in 2012. In January 2013, the LY passed the final defense
budget with a small cut to NT$312.7 billion (US$10.5 billion). The budget included amounts to
support requests for F-16C/D fighters and a submarine design. In June 2013, the opposition DPP
issued a paper on defense policy. It stressed strengthening defense against the PRC, agreeing with
a bipartisan goal of budgets at 3% of GDP, and cooperating with all democracies.
Some concerns increased about whether Taiwan’s military is hollowing out, partly due to
problems in recruitment and retention while trying to shift to a volunteer force by 2015 with
insufficient investment and commitment by the leadership. On July 20, 2013, an estimated 30,000
demonstrators protested at the MND, after the death of a corporal on July 4 reportedly from
heatstroke and abuse while in detention. The incident triggered another protest on August 3 by
100,000-250,000 people against the government’s handling of this and other cases. Observers
feared the demonstrations undercut recruitment and retention. In September, the government
delayed full conversion to a volunteer personnel force for two years, or by 2017. By 2014, MND
increased recruitment from the low level in 2013.185 However, MND also is cutting personnel.
In August 2013, the Ma Administration proposed the 2014 defense budget at the same level as
the 2013 budget (NT$312.7 billion) and included about US$175 million to acquire two U.S.
excess Perry-class frigates. In October, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kin Moy urged
Taiwan to increase its defense budget to a level commensurate with its security challenges.186 In
January 2014, the LY passed the final defense budget of NT$311.1 billion (US$10.4 billion). The
defense budget accounted for 2% of GDP and 16.2% of the total budget (with slight decreases).
(South Korea approved a 2014 defense budget of $32.7 billion. Singapore approved a budget of
$10 billion.) Taiwan reported meeting targets for recruitment in 2014 (10,557 by September).187
In August 2014, the Ma Administration proposed to the LY the 2015 defense budget of
NT$319.3 billion (US$10.7 billion).
Visits by Generals/Admirals to Taiwan
As for senior-level contacts, the United States and Taiwan have held high-level defense-related
meetings in the United States, as discussed above. U.S. policy previously restricted high-level
military contacts but changed to welcome Taiwan’s senior military officers and defense officials
to visit the United States, shifting the question to their willingness to visit. At the same time, the
State Department’s policy has avoided sending to Taiwan U.S. flag and general officers or
officials at or above the level of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense or State. For a hearing in
1999, Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth responded to a submitted question on this issue by
writing that “following the 1994 policy review, the Administration authorized travel by high-level

185 Jason Pan, “Military Intake on Track,” Taipei Times, November 19, 2014.
186 Kin Moy, “Trends in the U.S.-Taiwan Relationship,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, October 3, 2013.
187 Central News Agency, July 29, 2014.
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officials, including Cabinet officers, from economic and technical agencies. However, restrictions
remained at the same level for visitors from military or national security agencies at or above the
position of Deputy Assistant Secretary and at the rank of one-star flag officer or above. This
policy is based on the determination that visits of such officials would be inconsistent with
maintaining an unofficial relationship.”188
The State Department has issued “Guidelines on Relations with Taiwan” (applicable only to the
Executive Branch) to restrict contacts with Taiwan, including official travel to Taiwan for State or
Defense Department officials above the level of office director or for uniformed military
personnel above the rank of O-6 (colonel, navy captain), without State’s approval.189 The
Pentagon and some in Congress have sought to lift this restriction in order to advance U.S.
interests in boosting Taiwan’s deterrence capability and U.S. leverage in Taiwan. Senior-level
exchanges could help to understand Taiwan’s crisis-management and self-defense capabilities and
limitations.190 The TRA does not specify unofficial or official relations with Taiwan. Some have
cited the NSC’s record of sending senior officials to Taipei for clear and direct talks.191 Also, a
senior official of the Navy International Program Office (NIPO) visited Taiwan on the submarine
program in 2003. After starting in 2003 as the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for
International Affairs, Bruce Lemkin traveled twice to Taiwan by 2009 to discuss the Surveillance
Radar Program (SRP) and other programs.192 Nonetheless, the NSC, State Department, and some
in Congress have opposed ending the general rule to send senior military officers and defense
officials to Taiwan as an unnecessary, ineffective change in a sensitive situation.
Taiwan’s Missile Program
Policy-makers have faced an issue of how to respond to Taiwan’s programs for counter-strike
missiles (ballistic and cruise missiles). Some officials in Taiwan and U.S. supporters have talked
about missiles as a deterrent.193 Some Americans have viewed Taiwan’s missile defense strategy
with recognition of the tactical utility of missiles (including in U.S. military doctrine)194 and as
inherently defensive against the PRC’s missile and other threats. They also have considered
Taiwan’s efforts in self-defense as its own decisions. Other officials and observers have raised a
question of conformity to international missile nonproliferation standards of the Missile
Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The MTCR is a set of voluntary guidelines in export
controls to prevent primarily the transfer of missiles capable of delivering at least a 500 kg (1,100
lb) payload to at least 300 km (186 mi). Taiwan has the options of unilaterally adhering to the
MTCR and fielding missiles without U.S. involvement. Another argument has called the longer-
range weapons unhelpful for stability and U.S. escalation control in a possible crisis or conflict.195

188 Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hearing on “United States-Taiwan Relations: the 20th Anniversary of the
Taiwan Relations Act,” March 25, 1999.
189 Department of State, “Guidelines on Relations with Taiwan,” version issued on March 4, 2011.
190 Dan Blumenthal and Gary Schmitt (AEI), “A Strange Calculus,” Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2006; Therese
Shaheen (ex-AIT Chairwoman), “Why is the U.S. Ignoring Taiwan?” Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2007.
191 The NSC has sent the Senior Director for Asian Affairs, including James Moriarty and Michael Green, to Taiwan.
For example: Far Eastern Economic Review, May 20, 2004.
192 U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conferences, Charlottesville, VA, September 27-29, 2009; and Williamsburg, VA,
October 5-7, 2014; Jim Wolf, “New Chinese Fighter Jet Expected by 2018: U.S. Intelligence,” Reuters, May 21, 2010.
193 John Tkacik, “The Best Defense is a Good Offense,” Taipei Times, February 14, 2007.
194 See analysis in CRS Report RL30379, Missile Defense Options for Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan: A Review of
the Defense Department Report to Congress
, by Robert D. Shuey, Shirley A. Kan, and Mark Christofferson.
195 Michael McDevitt, “For Taiwan, the Best Defense is not a Good Offense,” PacNet #9, February 22, 2007.
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The 2013 QDR stated that Taiwan abides by the MTCR. However, the United States reportedly
had difficulty in trying to verify that Taiwan’s classified programs comply with the MTCR.196
The Bush Administration objected to Taiwan’s missile programs.197 However, this objection
raised an issue of whether the Administration contradicted its past position and undermined
Taiwan’s defense.198 Another issue has concerned whether the refusal to consider Taiwan’s
request (first raised in 2006) for F-16C/D fighters undermined this concern about missiles. A third
policy issue has questioned whether U.S. opposition should be stronger or whether U.S. concern
should be limited to U.S. adherence to the MTCR, focusing on any potential technology transfers.
In October 2012, the Obama Administration revised an agreement with South Korea to allow its
ballistic missiles to reach a longer range of 800 km in order to defend against North Korea’s
missiles, calling the agreement defensive in nature. This agreement raised an additional issue of
whether to similarly support Taiwan’s missiles as also defensive against the PLA’s missiles.
At a press conference in October 2006, the U.S. Representative in Taipei, Stephen Young, said
that U.S. policy helps Taiwan to have self-defense, “not to attack the mainland, because that was
never in the cards and still isn’t now, but to defend itself.” By April 2007, the Administration
became more concerned about a misperception of U.S. assistance for or approval of Taiwan’s
Hsiung-feng 2E (HF-2E) land-attack cruise missile (LACM) program. Also, U.S. officials
reportedly linked Taiwan’s planned deployment of such missiles to consideration of a request for
F-16C/D fighters.199 Right after Taiwan’s Han Kuang exercise in April 2007, the new PACOM
Commander, Admiral Timothy Keating, testified to Congress about the situation in the Taiwan
Strait while expecting Dennis Blair’s full briefing on the exercise. To clarify its intention for
tactical utility of missiles, Taiwan issued a new name for the missile under development, called
Tactical Shore-based Missile for Fire Suppression (TSMFS). Keating stressed “how emphatically
we emphasize to [Taiwan] that [its] actions should be defensive in nature and not offensive.”200
Finally, because the Han Kuang military exercise included demonstration of the use of the LACM
to Blair, a National Security Council official publicly stated,
We think that developing defensive capabilities is the right thing to do. We think that
offensive capabilities on either side of the Strait are destabilizing and, therefore, not in
the interest of peace and stability. So when you ask me whether I am for offensive
missiles, I’m not for offensive missiles on the Chinese side of the Strait, and I’m not for
offensive missiles on the Taiwan side of the Strait. But appropriate defense capabilities
are certainly the right of the people of Taiwan.201
AIT Director Stephen Young followed up at a news conference in Taipei in May 2007, stating that
“there were claims that the United States Government approved of the use of long-range
offensive missiles during the [Han Kuang military] exercise and that they even offered a name for
these systems. I want to say categorically here, on behalf of the U.S. Government, that these
stories are inaccurate.” He added that “what we think Taiwan should be placing its emphasis on,
is missile defense,” citing the PAC-3 missile defense system.202 In December 2007, Taiwan’s LY

196 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Defense and Security Report,” Second Quarter, 2013.
197 Lien-ho Pao [United Daily News], Taipei, October 21, 2006, quoting unnamed U.S. officials.
198 Rupert Hammond-Chambers, President of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Taiwan Goes It Alone,” Defense
News
, and “Special Commentary,” February 25, 2008.
199 Defense News, July 16, 2007.
200 Senate Armed Services Committee’s hearing on April 24, 2007.
201 Dennis Wilder, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asian Affairs, NSC, remarks at a
Foreign Press Center Briefing, April 26, 2007.
202 AIT Director Stephen Young, press conference, Taipei, May 3, 2007.
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approved about $117 million but froze $77 million for the HF-2E program in the final 2008
defense budget. Under KMT President Ma, Deputy Defense Minister Andrew Yang testified to
the LY in March 2010 that Taiwan needed missiles for deterrence and maintenance of “peace
through strength.”203 Taiwan budgeted in 2008-2010 to produce 300 HF-2E missiles with a range
of 600-800 km (375-500 miles), a cut from 1,000 km, and KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang said in
August 2010 that the missiles (with unspecified number and payload) would be deployed to the
Missile Command by the end of the year. Taiwan reportedly completed deployment in 2012.204
In an interview with Defense News in November 2012, Deputy Defense Minister Yang said that
the Obama Administration has raised concern about the HF-2E program, without calling for its
cancellation. He also said that Taiwan has developed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
President’s “Freezes” or Delays in Arms Sales Notifications
In 2008, congressional concerns and frustrations mounted about perceived delays in the
President’s notifications and briefings to Congress on eight pending arms sales as well as his
refusal to accept Taiwan’s request for F-16C/D fighters. As discussed above, President Bush
changed policy in April 2001 to consider Taiwan’s arms requests routinely on an as-needed basis,
similar to acceptance of other foreign requests for security assistance. However, the President’s
refusal to accept a formal request from Taiwan for F-16C/D fighters since 2006 has raised the
issues of whether the Administration violated or changed policy and did so without consultation
with Congress. In October 2007, the House passed H.Res. 676, and Senator Lisa Murkowski
wrote a letter to National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.
In addition to the uncertainty of the Bush Administration’s decision-making, there were also
questions about any changes in the security strategy and defense policy of President Ma Ying-
jeou, particularly given the past ambivalence of the KMT party. There were questions about the
KMT’s review of pending U.S. arms programs, reportedly including whether to pursue the
submarine purchase.205 After the inauguration of Taiwan’s KMT President Ma on May 20, 2008,
he promptly resumed a dialogue with the PRC on June 12-13, resulting in expanded charter
flights and tourism across the Taiwan Strait in July. While the resumption of the cross-strait
dialogue for the first time in a decade was welcomed, both the Ma and Bush Administrations
were concerned about the timing of announcements on arms sales to Taiwan during the first round
of the resumed dialogue, particularly concerns expressed by Ma’s National Security Advisor Su
Chi in discussion with a visiting Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer in June.206
Nonetheless, Taiwan later showed concern about the Bush Administration’s delay in making
progress on pending arms sales. On July 12, 2008, Ma finally clarified publicly that Taiwan still
considered the U.S. arms programs as important and urgent, in spite of the cross-strait talks.207 In
the summer and fall of 2008, President Ma’s military viewpoint reportedly was influenced by one
U.S. article critical of the proposed arms sales programs, causing disarray and disputes between
the Defense Ministry and National Security Council.208 Visiting Washington on July 27-August 1,
Wang Jin-pyng, President of the LY, said that U.S. officials told him that the Administration had
not imposed a “freeze,” continued to adhere to the TRA, and was working on the notifications.

203 Tzu-yu Shih-Pao [Liberty Times], Taipei, March 30, 2010.
204 Chung-kuo Shih-Pao [China Times], Taipei, August 31, 2010; Tzu-yu Shih-Pao [Liberty Times], May 28, 2012.
205 CRS Report RL34441, Security Implications of Taiwan’s Presidential Election of March 2008, by Shirley A. Kan.
206 Washington Post, June 12; Defense News, June 16; Taipei Times, June 20, 2008.
207 DPA, July 12, 2008, and Taiwan News, July 13, 2008.
208 William Murray, “Revisiting Taiwan’s Defense Strategy,” Naval War College Review, Summer 2008.
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Taiwan’s military was increasingly concerned about the potential loss of unspent budgeted funds
for programs as it neared the end of the 2008 budget year.
Members of Congress suspected that President Bush effectively suspended arms sales to Taiwan
in violation of the TRA and U.S. policy. Congress also was concerned about the lack of timely
and complete information requested from the Administration, in disregard for the congressional
role. They feared that President Bush deferred to objections in Beijing or other considerations.
Even before June, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte testified to Senator Lisa
Murkowski at the Foreign Relations Committee on May 15, 2008, that after Taiwan’s legislature
approved funding of the weapons programs (which was in December 2007), the Administration
did not take or plan to take subsequent steps in arms sales. Despite the lack of notifications to
Congress on pending arms sales (after the last notification in November 2007), Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs James Shinn denied at a hearing that
“we made a decision to put things in abeyance” in testimony on June 25.209 (After the Bush
Administration’s notifications to Congress of arms sales to Taiwan in September and November
2007, the PRC protested by refusing to hold military exchanges, including an annual meeting on
the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) scheduled for October 2007. The PRC
also denied port visits at Hong Kong in November 2007 by U.S. Naval minesweepers in distress
and by the aircraft carrier group led by the USS Kitty Hawk for Thanksgiving.)
On July 16, 2008, PACOM Commander Admiral Timothy Keating confirmed at a public event at
the Heritage Foundation that the Administration’s policy was to freeze arms sales to Taiwan. He
reportedly confirmed discussions with PRC officials about their objections, raising a question
about the Administration’s violation of the TRA and Six Assurances. Moreover, Keating implied
that arms sales would be “destabilizing” to the situation in the Taiwan Strait and that there was no
pressing need for arms sales to Taiwan at this moment, even as he acknowledged a cross-strait
military imbalance favoring the PRC. In contrast, former PACOM Commander Dennis Blair who
just visited Taiwan in June said that Taiwan’s military and civilian leaders understood the need to
negotiate with the PRC from a position of strength and to maintain Taiwan’s defense.210 Also,
former Bush Administration officials urged President Bush to keep his commitment on Taiwan.211
Some in Congress became concerned that the Administration suspended arms sales, but the
Administration publicly denied a “freeze” or change in policy. The State Department responded
in a letter to Representative Joe Courtney on July 17, 2008, arguing that the Administration was
conducting an “inter-agency process” to consider Taiwan’s requests for eight “highly complex”
weapons programs, even though one program involved simply aircraft spare parts. In any case,
the Bush Administration delayed notifying Congress of eight approved, pending arms sales
programs with a total value of $12-13 billion (for a sub design, Patriot PAC-3 missile defense
systems, Apache helicopters, Black Hawk helicopters, E2-T airborne early warning aircraft
upgrade, aircraft parts, Harpoon sub-launched anti-ship missiles, and Javelin anti-tank missiles).
As late as September 29, 2008, after the originally scheduled congressional adjournment on
September 26, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs
gave a speech at the U.S.-Taiwan defense industry conference, stating that he had “no news” on
the long-awaited notifications on arms sales and that the Administration’s “internal processes”

209 House Armed Services Committee, hearing on China: Recent Security Developments, June 25, 2008.
210 Wendell Minnick, “China Wields New Diplomatic Skills Against Taiwan,” Defense News, July 7, 2008.
211 Ed Ross, “Arming Taiwan,” Wall Street Journal Asia, July 18, 2008; Dan Blumenthal, Aaron Friedberg, Randall
Schriver, Ashley Tellis, “Bush Should Keep His Word on Taiwan,” Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2008.
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were still continuing.212 On October 3, the last day of congressional session that was extended to
pass a bill to bail out banks during the financial crisis, President Bush finally notified Congress. A
Pentagon spokesman said that the PLA suspended some military meetings and port visits, in
“continued politicization” of contacts. (The PRC suspended such contacts in 2007, as discussed
above.) The PRC also suspended bilateral talks to cooperate on weapons non-proliferation.213
However, President Bush submitted only six of the eight pending sales for a total value of $6.5
billion, or about half of the pending total. The Administration did not submit for congressional
review the pending programs for Black Hawk helicopters or the submarine design. Moreover, the
sale of PAC-3 missile defense systems was broken up, excluding three of seven firing units and
about 50 missiles. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen stated on the day of the formal
notifications that they were in accordance with the TRA but criticized the President for not
following the “letter and spirit” of the law and for keeping Congress “in the dark about U.S. arms
sales policy toward Taiwan.” She noted this “grave breach of Executive Branch cooperation with
Congress.” Also, Senator John McCain pointed out that the arms sales were “on hold for too
long” and urged the Administration to reconsider its decision not to provide submarines or F-16
fighters.214 In addition to freezing out Congress, the Bush Administration’s long-awaited decision
to submit the notifications raised more questions about arbitrary decision-making in addition to
piling up the notifications for months (that were not programs in a so-called “package”).
President Bush left confusion in the process for Taiwan to make requests for objective U.S.
consideration of its defense needs and undermined his policy change of 2001 to depoliticize the
decision-making. This situation raised the policy issue of whether to conduct a strategic review.
Despite concerns raised by President Bush’s decision-making, President Obama repeated that
process since 2008 to decide on submissions to Congress all at one time (no notifications for
FMS programs after October 3, 2008, until his first notifications on January 29, 2010). On one
day, he notified Congress of five programs (not a “package”) with a total value of $6.4 billion that
involved PAC-3 missile defense systems (a sale that was broken up into two parts with
notification of one part in 2008), Black Hawk utility helicopters, Harpoon anti-ship training
missiles, follow-on technical support for the Po Sheng joint command and control project, and
Osprey-class minehunters (that Congress authorized for sale in P.L. 110-229). Like Bush,
President Obama did not advance the submarine design program (the only one pending for
notification to Congress stemming from decisions in 2001) and has not accepted Taiwan’s formal
request for F-16C/D fighters (pending for submission since 2006). Still, the Administration
asserted on January 29 that it made no decision to rule in or rule out the submarine program and
that it was still assessing Taiwan’s requirement for new fighters.
The Obama Administration argued through 2009 that it did not “hold up” the notifications and
was “reviewing” decisions in an “inter-agency process” and that at the U.S.-PRC summit in
Beijing in November 2009, President Obama publicly reiterated the U.S. commitment to the
TRA, signaling no change in the long-standing U.S. policy toward Taiwan. Nonetheless, the
Presidential decisions raised questions about whether the process could return to routine reviews,
whether Washington passed a watershed in arms sales, and whether Taipei will reduce defense
acquisitions and budgets. Moreover, with the delays in decision-making since 2008 that were

212 David Sedney, speech at the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference held by the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council,
Jacksonville, FL, September 29, 2008.
213 VOA and AP, October 6, 2008; Xinhua, October 7, 2008; and author’s consultations.
214 Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, ranking Republican, Foreign Affairs Committee, press release, October 3,
2008; and Senator John McCain, press release, October 7, 2008.
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perceived by some in Washington, Taipei, and Beijing, the PRC harbored a rising expectation of
compromise in U.S. policy on arms sales and issued more strident warnings than in the past.
The day after President Obama’s five notifications on January 29, 2010, his Senior Director for
East Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, Jeff Bader, met with the PRC ambassador
and pointed out what the President authorized but also what was not authorized for sale to
Taiwan. The ambassador said he noticed that point, which would mitigate the PRC’s reaction.215
The PRC threatened to respond in four ways: postpone “partial” military-to-military exchanges;
postpone deputy ministerial level meetings on international security, arms control, and weapons
nonproliferation; impose sanctions on U.S. defense firms involved in the arms sales to Taiwan;
and react in interactions on international and regional problems. The immediate response was the
PRC’s postponement of Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg’s meetings in Beijing in
February (that later took place in early March). The threat to U.S. firms was new in public but
already existed and remained vague (with possible, partial impact on two companies with civilian
business in the PRC, Boeing and General Electric) and risked backfiring on Beijing (in trade or
other ties). Further, the PRC Embassy in Washington even called at least one U.S. defense firm’s
executive directly on a personal phone on a weekend in early February with an implied warning.
The company countered that the PRC already had a “blacklist” against some U.S. firms, the
embassy’s contact was highly inappropriate, and the senior diplomat should direct the PRC’s
messages instead to the State Department. The firm then informed the State Department of the
harassment against U.S. private executives.216 In early June, the PRC did not welcome Defense
Secretary Robert Gates when he proposed to visit while in Asia for the defense ministers’
conference in Singapore (Shangri-la Dialogue). In his speech on June 5, Gates countered that U.S.
arms sales to Taiwan are nothing new, do not support Taiwan’s independence, and maintain peace
and stability given China’s “accelerating military buildup” that has focused on Taiwan. Still,
while the PLA and others pointed to U.S. arms sales as the reason for the PLA’s snub, another
factor could have been the timing of a visit, right after South Korea announced on May 20 the
finding that North Korea sank the South Korean naval ship Cheonan on March 26.
However, after President Obama’s notifications in January 2010 and despite his statement and
Gates’s speech, the Administration held up at least three arms sales programs from early to
summer of 2010.217 Rather than the previous pending FMS programs that faced what critics called
delays in notifications to Congress, these three programs involved Direct Commercial Sales
(DCS) usually notified to Congress without controversy under Section 36(c) of the AECA. In
July, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Shear strongly denied any “hesitancy” to sell
arms to Taiwan. On August 10, 2010, the State Department notified Congress of one program that
involved support for Taiwan’s existing Hughes Air Defense Radar and Air Defense System
(HADAR) and two programs to upgrade the GD-53 multimode radar on Taiwan’s IDFs.
Inexplicably, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement to deny these were “arms sales.”
After January 2010, President Obama did not notify Congress of major FMS until all on one day
in September 2011. On September 21, 2011, the Administration submitted the formal
notifications of three proposed programs totaling $5.9 billion: “retrofit” (or upgrade) of Taiwan’s
145 F-16A/B fighters sold in 1992 ($5.3 billion); continuation of F-16 pilot training at Luke Air
Force Base, AZ ($500 million); and aircraft spare parts ($52 million). The Administration argued

215 Jeff Bader, Obama and China’s Rise (Washington: Brookings Institution, 2012).
216 Author’s consultations in February and June 2010.
217 Rupert Hammond-Chambers (President of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council), “Take China Out of the Driver’s
Seat on Taiwan,” Opinion Asia column in Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2010. Also see Defense News, June 28, 2010.
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that its arms sales to Taiwan were not negotiated with the PRC and already totaled $12.25 billion
(together with the programs notified in January 2010), making up almost 80% of the total value
of all the programs that President Bush notified in eight years (that totaled $15.6 billion), based
on FMS in the table at the end of this report.
However, the programs for F-16 pilot training and aircraft spare parts were pending to continue
long-standing cooperation. Also, after the State Department apparently suspended the process to
provide price and availability data in September 2010, the F-16A/B program was expected to be
notified to Congress since early 2011,218 probably after PRC ruler Hu Jintao’s visit in January
2011. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s President Ma stepped up campaigning for his reelection in January
2012 and repeatedly requested U.S. arms as signs of political support. Indeed, one justification for
the F-16A/B program was to support U.S. interests in political stability. The Administration
decided to submit the long-awaited notifications and study on Taiwan’s air power in September
2011. These actions came after Hu’s and Defense Secretary Gates’ visits in January, a PLA
General’s visit in May, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s visit in July, and Vice President
Biden’s visit in August, but before visits by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, National
Security Advisor Tom Donilon, and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns in October, and the
G-20, APEC Summit, and East Asian Summit in November. Thus, despite the arms sales, officials
continued to meet. After the announcement of arms sales, the PLA postponed visits by the
PACOM Commander and the U.S. Army’s band, a combined anti-piracy drill, and a combined
medical rescue exercise with the PLA’s hospital ship. Campbell and Acting Assistant Secretary of
Defense Peter Lavoy proceeded to Beijing for the U.S.-PRC Consultations on the Asia-Pacific on
October 11. By December 7, the PLA hosted Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele
Flournoy for military-to-military Defense Consultative Talks (DCT). The PRC, again, did not
make Taiwan face consequences for acquiring the American assistance.
Strategic Policy Review
During Taiwan’s politically motivated impasse over funding for self-defense, a former Pentagon
official warned in 2005 that if Taiwan did not pass the Special Budget and there were no expected
improvements in defense, the United States would be more hesitant to approve future requests for
weapons and possibly conduct a review of policy toward Taiwan.219 Another former Bush
Administration official contended in 2007 that U.S. policy makers should look at whether there
was even a clear-eyed strategy for China that includes Taiwan’s role.220 After Taiwan passed arms
procurement funds in 2007, the Bush Administration delayed progress on some arms sales in
2008, and the Obama Administration did not decide on major FMS in 2009, delaying notifications
to Congress until January 2010. This situation raised a policy option of resurrecting the annual
arms sales talks.221 Another option would rectify President Bush’s policy of 2001 to consider
Taiwan’s requests on an as-needed basis. U.S. policy could reassess arms sales in the context of
Taiwan’s joint defense requirements in a regional approach that includes addressing a rising
China. An alternative would be to conduct a more serious and consequential defense dialogue,
beyond the existing meetings whose effectiveness has come under question by some in Taiwan
and the United States. Taiwan has lacked clear answers to some requests for weapons, while

218 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Defense & Security Report,” Second Quarter 2011.
219 Interview with Mark Stokes, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and Country Director in the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, in Taipei Times, April 24, 2005.
220 Randall Schriver, “In Search of a Strategy,” Taiwan Business Topics, September 2007, AmCham, Taipei.
221 Mark Stokes, “Taiwan Must Review Security Risks,” Taipei Times, March 12, 2008. On the annual arms sales talks,
see CRS Report RS20365, Taiwan: Annual Arms Sales Process, by Shirley A. Kan.
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Taiwan has cut its defense budget. There have been rising concerns about the military imbalance
in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan could help with U.S. and international security concerns, in common
interests. One option would be for a new annual “two-plus-two” strategic dialogue between
officials from the Departments of Defense and State and their counterparts from Taiwan.222
Congress has a role in oversight of any reviews of policy toward Taiwan and could hold hearings
even without the Administration’s formal policy review. There has been no major policy review
acknowledged to Congress since 1994. In September 1994, the Clinton Administration explicitly
and publicly testified to Congress about a major Taiwan Policy Review.223 Defense ties would
likely be included in any policy reviews of how to enhance leverage over Taiwan and affect the
cross-strait situation, including whether to limit defense ties, apply conditions, or strengthen ties.
Policy promotes the U.S. objectives of assisting Taiwan’s self-defense capability, preventing
conflict, minimizing the chance of U.S. armed intervention, dispelling dangerous misperceptions,
and promoting cross-strait dialogue. While U.S. objectives have been consistent, developments in
China and Taiwan since the 1970s have required U.S. re-assessments and responses.
In late 2002, the Pentagon reportedly conducted a policy review of cooperation with Taiwan that
examined whether its leaders have taken defense seriously, whether defense cooperation with
Taiwan has been effective, and whether U.S. policy should change.224 (The NSC, State
Department, and AIT would have input into any review by the Administration of policy toward
Taiwan.)225 At the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council’s conference on Taiwan’s defense in February
2003, in San Antonio, TX, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless told Taiwan’s
Vice Defense Minister Chen Chao-min and others that, while the President said that we will do
whatever it takes to help Taiwan defend itself, Taiwan “should not view America’s resolute
commitment to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait as a substitute for investing the necessary
resources in its own defense.” At the same occasion, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Randall
Schriver indicated a new proactive U.S. approach to Taiwan’s defense modernization, pointing
Taiwan to three priorities: missile defense, command and control, and ASW.
Taiwan’s election in March 2004 brought the reelection of President Chen Shui-bian and his
advocacy of a new constitution for Taiwan by 2008. In April 2004, the Defense and State
Departments testified at a hearing on Taiwan of the House International Relations Committee,
expressing a readjustment in the Bush Administration’s policy toward Taiwan.226 Assistant
Secretary of State James Kelly clarified U.S. policy by stating, inter alia, that there were
“limitations” in U.S. support for Taiwan as it considered changing its constitution.
One policy issue has concerned the relative stress on cross-strait dialogue vs. deterrence. In his
testimony, Assistant Secretary of State Kelly argued that a premise of arms sales to Taiwan has
been that “a secure and self-confident Taiwan is a Taiwan that is more capable of engaging in
political interaction and dialogue with the PRC, and we expect Taiwan will not interpret our
support as a blank check to resist such dialogue.” However, some observers questioned the

222 Walter Lohman (Heritage Foundation) and Rupert Hammond-Chambers (U.S.-Taiwan Business Council), “Shore
Up U.S.-Taiwan Relations Now As Two-China Tensions Have Abated,” Investor’s Business Daily, October 6, 2010.
223 Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Winston Lord, “Taiwan Policy Review,” before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 27, 1994. See CRS Report RL30341, China/Taiwan: Evolution of
the “One China” Policy—Key Statements from Washington, Beijing, and Taipei
, by Shirley A. Kan.
224 Taiwan Defense Review, January 18, 2003.
225 The Nelson Report (January 31, 2003) reported there was an interagency East Asia Policy Review.
226 House International Relations Committee, “The Taiwan Relations Act: The Next 25 Years,” April 21, 2004.
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continued validity of this premise. James Lilley, former ambassador in Beijing and representative
in Taipei, warned in April 2004 that:
The implicit American premise was that a secure and stable Taiwan would be a more
willing and successful partner in dealing with China. Judicious arms sales to Taiwan were
part of this formula and in the past it has worked.... If elements of this broader formula
are disregarded by the current Taiwan authorities, however, then the successful historic
pattern has been broken. U.S. military support and arms sales cannot be used by Taiwan
to move away from China—they were meant to make Taiwan feel secure enough to move
toward accommodation with China. Our support should be conditional on upholding our
successful pattern.227
Any policy review might be coordinated with allies in Asia and Europe, involving a regional
strategy to deal with a rising China. While in Beijing in August 2004, Australian Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer expressed doubts about whether any U.S. military help for Taiwan’s defense
against China would involve invoking Australia’s defense treaty with the United States.228
Nonetheless, in its Defense White Paper of 2009, Australia stated particular concern about the rise
of China and about the Taiwan question as a source of potential miscalculation. In February 2005,
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with Japan’s
Ministers for Defense and Foreign Affairs issued a Joint Statement of the U.S.-Japan Security
Consultative Committee (“2+2 statement”). They declared that a common strategic objective was
to “encourage the peaceful resolution of issues concerning the Taiwan Strait through dialogue.”
China objected to the alliance’s mere mention of Taiwan. In addition to Japan, Taiwan also lies in
proximity to the Philippines, another U.S. ally. In December 2007, the Council of the European
Union (EU) approved “Guidelines on the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy in East Asia” that
expressed concern about stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Greater cross-strait integration has raised concerns about the leakage of military technology,
intelligence, and other secrets from Taiwan to mainland China. As supporters of Taiwan wrote in
October 2006, “there is little sense in America’s continued support of Taiwan’s defenses if Taiwan
has no intention of using them to deter attack by the Chinese. Washington is increasingly alarmed
that Taiwan’s politicians—wittingly or unwittingly—are shifting responsibility for their island’s
defense from Taipei to Beijing, thus jeopardizing the integrity of U.S. defense technology that has
already been transferred to Taiwan.”229 Others have pointed out that Taiwan has its own concern
about the control of military information and technology that could leak to the PRC and that the
United States has transferred weapons to countries like Pakistan with close ties to the PLA.
A critical case of compromising Taiwan’s intelligence and military, including the U.S.-origin Po
Sheng C4 program, came to light on February 8, 2011, when Taiwan’s military announced the
detention on January 25 of Army Major General Lo Hsien-che for allegedly passing secrets to the
PRC after PRC intelligence recruited him (while assigned in Thailand in 2002-2005). He could
have continued to pass sensitive information after subsequent assignment at Army headquarters as
director of the Communications and Electronic Information Department and promotion in 2008 to
major general with even broader access to information on command and control. Lo was reported
as Taiwan’s highest-ranking alleged military spy for the PRC in decades and was not uncovered
until 2010, with U.S. counter-intelligence involvement in investigations. In an interview with the
Washington Post, Taiwan’s President Ma acknowledged that this “very serious case” started in

227 James Lilley, “Strait Talk,” Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2004.
228 Catherine Armitage, “Downer Assures China on Taiwan,” The Australian, August 18, 2004.
229 Michael Needham and John Tkacik, “Grim Future for Taiwan’s Defenses,” Heritage Foundation, October 31, 2006.
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2002 and, after its discovery in 2010, Taiwan’s military started “stricter safeguards” and damage
control. On July 25, 2011, a military court sentenced Lo to life in prison for spying for the enemy.
Taiwan was not the only compromise. Cases in the United States that concerned PRC espionage
against Taiwan and U.S.-Taiwan weapons programs (including Po Sheng) involved Gregg
Bergersen and James Fondren, Jr. Bergersen was a weapon systems policy analyst at the Defense
Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the agency involved in arms sales, and was arrested in
February 2008 and sentenced in July 2008 to 57 months in prison. Fondren was a civilian official
in PACOM’s Washington office and was sentenced in January 2010 to 36 months in prison.230
Still, there have been concerns about structural weaknesses in Taiwan that could allow for broad
(beyond a need to know) and unquestioned access to secrets (particularly by general and flag
officers or senior civilian officials), as compared to U.S. compartmentalized information,
background security investigations, and routine procedures for safeguarding classified data and
discussions. While it was possible that there was a coincidence that these cases involved the Po
Sheng C4 program or that the PRC targeted Po Sheng, it was probable that PRC espionage has
been aggressive and comprehensive in targeting the militaries of Taiwan, the United States, and
other countries, which included Taiwan’s C4 system. Moreover, in August 2011, Taiwan failed to
detain a citizen who worked on arms programs in Taiwan (including Po Sheng), Ko-Suen Moo,
who was arrested in 2005 and then jailed in the United States for trying to sell military parts
(including an F-16 fighter engine) to the PRC. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
stated that it deported Moo to Taipei on August 17, 2011, and handed him over to local
authorities. Despite the U.S. expectation of legal action, Taiwan’s government “lost” Moo.231
In late February 2012, a news magazine in Taiwan reported that an Air Force Captain Chiang was
detained in mid-January for allegedly leaking secrets to the PRC that involved a Regional
Operations Control Center (ROCC). Taiwan’s MND issued a statement on February 29 to confirm
that he was turned over to prosecutors and to contend that it minimized any damage by tightening
security after Lo Hsien-che’s case. The military reportedly watched Chiang for four years.
Nonetheless, this case raised questions as to why Taiwan did not announce the arrest until the
media reported on it, whether the arrest was delayed until after the presidential election on
January 14, and whether Taiwan briefed the U.S. side (with U.S. programs potentially harmed). A
number of other cases in Taiwan’s military of alleged spying for Beijing also have come to light.
In addition, after the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou became president in May 2008, there has been a
question of whether Taiwan’s pursuit of closer integration with the PRC—beyond détente—has
an implication of Taiwan’s strategic reorientation closer toward the PRC and away from the
United States and U.S. democratic allies (like Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines).232 Indeed,
on June 10, within weeks of President Ma’s inauguration, a boat from Taiwan sank in the East
China Sea after a collision with a coast guard ship from Japan near the disputed Senkaku islands
(claimed as the Diaoyutai islands by Taiwan and Diaoyu islands by the PRC). The situation
escalated into a crisis between Taiwan and Japan. A KMT legislator, Lin Yu-fang, demanded that
the Ministry of National Defense deploy one of the Kidd-class destroyers that the United States
sold for Taiwan’s self-defense to take legislators to the disputed maritime area. Not until a week

230 Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, February 8, 2011; Tzu-yu Shih-pao [Liberty Times], February 9, 2011;
Chung-kuo Shih-pao [China Times], February 10, 2011; Washington Post, February 17, 2011; Taipei Times, February
18, 2011; Department of Justice, releases, February 11, 2008, July 11, 2008, May 13, 2009, and January 22, 2010.
231 ICE, “ICE Removes Taiwanese National Who Conspired to Export Sophisticated U.S. Military Equipment to
China,” August 18, 2011; Taipei Times, August 20 and 22, 2011. Yet, on June 30, 2011, Taiwan’s prosecutors indicted
Lee Teng-hui, who was president from 1988 to 2000, for allegedly diverting $7.8 million in diplomatic funds.
232 CRS Report RL34441, Security Implications of Taiwan’s Presidential Election of March 2008, by Shirley A. Kan.
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later did President Ma call for a “peaceful resolution” and KMT legislators put off their plan to
assert Taiwan’s claims with a trip on a naval vessel. Then, from May to December 2009,
President Ma met only twice with Japan’s Representative to Taipei Masaki Saito, in a dispute
over Saito’s note of Japan’s long-held stance that Taiwan’s status remained unsettled. On May 20,
2010, when South Korea issued findings that North Korea sank its naval ship (Cheonan) on
March 26, killing 46 sailors, Taiwan issued an ambiguous statement that raised questions in the
United States and Asia about Taiwan’s weak support for South Korea and whether Taiwan was
out of alignment with the United States and allies. Later in 2010, Taiwan protested to Japan when
it expanded slightly its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) to fully cover the airspace over
Yonaguni island, though there was no impact on Taiwan. After North Korea attacked South
Korea’s Yeonpyeong island in November 2010, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan (EY) (or Cabinet) first
targeted North Korea as well as South Korea for “self-restraint,” but President Ma Ying-jeou
followed the next day with a stronger condemnation of North Korea. After Japan’s catastrophic
earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in March 2011, President Ma led Taiwan to be the
largest donor of official and private aid, including $3.5 million from the government, though
Taiwan did not offer military or coast guard assistance to Japan. On November 23, 2013, the
PRC’s military announced an extensive ADIZ over the East China Sea that covers the Senkaku
Islands and overlaps with the ADIZs of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan; and attempted to apply
the PRC’s rules to all aircraft and threatened military actions against aircraft that do not comply
with the rules. Taiwan expressed “grave concern” about the ADIZ, without calling it a “threat.” In
July 2014, when Japan issued a new defense policy regarding collective self-defense, Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel promptly welcomed the change to enable Japan to engage in a wider
range of operations. However, Ma said Taiwan was “closely watching” Japan’s defense policy.233
In the spring-summer 2012, concerns arose about any Taipei-Beijing cooperation in the South
China Sea and Taiwan’s deployment of weapons and live-fire drills by the Coast Guard on Itu
Aba (Taiping Island), which could involve U.S.-origin weapons (e.g., air-defense missiles).234 (In
2008, a Kidd-class destroyer accompanied President Chen Shui-bian’s visit to the island.) At a
conference on June 27, 2012, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell confirmed that U.S.
officials raised concerns with Taiwan about whether it would work with the PRC in the South
China Sea and that Taiwan gave assurances that it would be careful. Concerning the Senkaku
Islands in the East China Sea, Campbell acknowledged that U.S. officials underscored to Taiwan
the U.S. expectation about not taking steps to provoke misunderstandings or tensions, speaking at
an event on December 4.235 In 2013, Taiwan budgeted for a pier and runway at Itu Aba by 2016.
On August 5, 2012, President Ma announced his “East China Sea Peace Initiative” that reiterated
the ROC’s claim over the Senkaku islands as the Diaoyutai Islands and called for talks and a code
of conduct to address tensions peacefully. However, Taiwan has given mixed messages. On
September 25, the very day that the PRC and Japan held diplomatic exchanges to try to cool
tensions as the United States urged, Taiwan deployed 12 Coast Guard ships to escort about 60
fishing boats into the islands’ territorial waters. Reportedly, Japan’s Coast Guard ships fired water

233 Defense Department, July 1, 2014; Taipei Times, July 4, 2014.
234 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “Defense & Security Report,” First Quarter 2012; Taipei Times, June 6, 2012;
Jane’s International Defense Review, August 15, 2012.
235 According to Section 15(2) of the TRA, the term “Taiwan” includes, as the context may require, the islands of
Taiwan and the Pescadores, the people on those islands, corporations and other entities and associations created or
organized under the laws applied on those islands, and the governing authorities on Taiwan recognized by the United
States as the Republic of China prior to January 1, 1979, and any successor governing authorities (including political
subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities thereof). The definition did not include the offshore islands of Quemoy
and Matsu (only a few miles off the mainland) or other islands claimed by Taiwan.
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cannons at Taiwan’s fishing boats in the territorial waters, but Taiwan’s Coast Guard ships fired
water cannons toward Japan’s official ships. Taiwan also deployed military assets. According to
Taiwan’s military news media, the military deployed two Knox-class frigates, one Perry-class
frigate, F-16 fighters, Mirage fighters, E2-K Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft, and S-70C
ship-borne helicopters (a civilian version of the UH-60 Black Hawk). The United States sold to
Taiwan such weapon systems (except for the Mirage fighters sold by France) for self-defense
against the PRC. Aside from Japan (a U.S. treaty ally), Taiwan faced increased tension with
another democratic neighbor. On May 9, 2013, the Coast Guard of the Philippines (another U.S.
treaty ally) shot at a Taiwan fishing boat, resulting in the death of a Taiwan fisherman, in the
Luzon Strait between Taiwan and the Philippines. On May 16, Taiwan proceeded with a military-
coast guard exercise that involved the Navy and Air Force sending a Kidd-class destroyer, a
Lafayette-class frigate (with S-70C helicopters), two Mirage fighters, Indigenous Defense
Fighters, and E-2K early warning aircraft. The Taiwan Navy ships sailed south of 20 degrees
north latitude, the traditional line of patrol by the Coast Guard, and entered waters around the
Batanes Islands. Taiwan’s military said it did not use live ammunition.
Despite a lack of consensus in Taiwan, its closer engagement with the PRC under KMT President
Ma Ying-jeou since May 2008 raised an issue among some academics of whether to review U.S.
policy. Related issues concern whether U.S. policy should “abandon” Taiwan and accommodate a
rising China, whether Taiwan itself has accommodated China, and whether to seek alternative
approaches to sustain stability.236 One debate centered on the relative importance of a “balance of
power” versus “peace and stability”
in the U.S. objective. A better defined strategy to set clear
objectives and improve mutual consensus might be needed. The dynamics of the closer cross-
strait interactions have positive and negative implications for U.S. interests and influence.
For the hearing on January 13, 2009, on Hillary Clinton’s nomination as Secretary of State, the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked a question for the record about whether the Obama
Administration would hold another Taiwan Policy Review, but she did not answer the question.
Meanwhile, more narrowly than a review by the Administration, Admiral Robert Willard,
Commander of PACOM in Honolulu, initiated in January 2010 reviews of approaches toward the
PRC and toward Taiwan (among other security concerns) by “Strategic Focus Groups (SFGs).”
With the suspected delays or freezes in notifications to Congress of arms sales, particularly since
2008, there has been an issue of whether the Administration has adhered to the TRA. In March
2011, the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, which represents U.S. defense and other companies,
contended that the U.S. commitment to Taiwan’s defense has weakened. The next month, William
Bader, who was Chief of Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1978-1981 when

236 See Robert Sutter’s presentation at a conference at George Washington University on January 29, 2009; Nadia Tsao,
“U.S. Urged to Review Taipei Policy,” Taipei Times, January 31, 2009; Robert Sutter, “Cross-Strait Moderation and
the United States – Policy Adjustments Needed,” PacNet Newsletter #17, March 5, 2009; Richard Bush and Alan
Romberg, “Cross-Strait Moderation and the United States—A Response to Robert Sutter,” PacNet Newsletter 17A,
March 12, 2009, Pacific Forum CSIS; and Robert Sutter, “Taiwan’s Future: Narrowing Straits,” NBR Analysis, May
2011. Also see controversial academic articles with a theme of what some called “abandoning” Taiwan in Foreign
Affairs
by Bruce Gilley, “Not So Dire Straits: How the Finlandization of Taiwan Benefits U.S. Security,”
January/February 2010; responses in May/June 2010; Charles Glaser, “Will China’s Rise Lead to War? Why Realism
Does Not Mean Pessimism,” March/April 2011; responses by Daniel Blumenthal, “Rethinking U.S. Foreign Policy
Towards Taiwan,” Foreign Policy’s Shadow Government blog, March 2, 2011, and Shyu-tu Lee and Douglas Paal in
Foreign Affairs, July/August 2011. Also see Joseph Prueher, Charles Freeman III, Timothy Keating, David Michael
Lampton, James Shinn, et al., “A Way Ahead with China,” University of Virginia, January 2011; Nancy Bernkopf
Tucker and Bonnie Glaser, “Should the United States Abandon Taiwan?”, Washington Quarter, Fall 2011; Michael
Swaine, “China Taiwan, U.S.: Status Quo Challenged,” National Interest, October 11, 2011.
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Congress passed the TRA, argued that the George W. Bush and Obama Administrations “have
shown little to no knowledge or real interest in the Taiwan Relations Act.”237
A related question has concerned whether U.S. strategy considers Taiwan’s security role more
narrowly in the Taiwan Strait or more comprehensively in the Pacific or globally. A question,
then, was whether Taiwan was included in the U.S. defense strategy that Defense Secretary
Robert Gates wrote in 2010, when he called for “building partner capacity: helping other
countries defend themselves or, if necessary, fight alongside U.S. forces by providing them with
equipment, training, or other forms of security assistance.”238 Secretary Gates also addressed
whether to review policy toward Taiwan, including on arms sales, when he visited the PRC in
January 2011 and said to reporters that “clearly over time if the environment changed and if the
relationship between the China and Taiwan continued to improve and the security environment
for Taiwan changed, then perhaps that would create the conditions for reexamining all of this. But
that would be an evolutionary and a long-term process.”
After not mentioning Taiwan in an article on a U.S. “pivot” to the Pacific in Foreign Policy on
“America’s Pacific Century” in October 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech on
the same subject the next month in Honolulu and added that the United States has a strong
relationship with Taiwan as an “important security and economic partner.” At the start of 2012,
President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued new Defense Strategic Guidance on
how to maintain U.S. military superiority in the face of budget cuts and to “rebalance” priorities,
posture, and presence to stress more attention to Asia as well as the Middle East (what some
called a “pivot” to the Pacific). An issue arose about Taiwan’s role in the U.S. comprehensive
strategy of rebalancing more diplomatic, defense, and economic attention to Asia. A related issue
concerned any potential contribution from Taiwan. Deputy Defense Minister Andrew Yang said
he discussed Taiwan’s role in this strategy with U.S. officials in August and with Deputy
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on October 2, 2012.239 However, Taiwan might clarify why
its QDR of 2013 called the U.S. rebalancing strategy a “challenge” in the security environment.
113th Congress: Major Congressional Action
Senator John Cornyn, who has argued to the Administration to approve a sale of F-16C/D fighters
to Taiwan, issued a statement on February 8, 2013, at the Heritage Foundation. He said that the
fighters have become increasingly important and also highly symbolic for Taiwan as it has faced
China’s aggressive military modernization and belligerent attitude. However, he noted his
disappointment that Taiwan seemed to have backed off its pursuit of new F-16 fighters. On
February 26, Senator Daniel Coats introduced S. 12, the Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2013, to
authorize the transfer of excess Perry-class frigates to Taiwan, Mexico, and Thailand.
Representative Robert Andrews wrote a letter, dated June 4, 2013, to Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel, asking about possible U.S. support for Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program. The
Defense Department’s response acknowledged that the United States has reviewed with no
decision since 2008 Taiwan’s request for a submarine design (without clarity on the status) and
noted that Taiwan has not requested technical assistance for its own submarine program.240

237 U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, “The American Defense Commitment to Taiwan Continues to Deteriorate,” March
1, 2011; William Bader, “U.S. Has Law that Governs Relations with Taiwan,” Financial Times, April 7, 2011.
238 Robert Gates, “Helping Others Defend Themselves,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2010.
239 Author’s consultation, August 2012; Yang’s interview published in Defense News, November 12, 2012.
240 Representative Robert Andrews, letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, June 4, 2013; and Under Secretary of
(continued...)
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The House, on June 14, 2013, passed H.R. 1960 (McKeon), NDAA for FY2014, with Section
1265 to direct the President to sell 66 F-16C/D fighters (approved as language offered by
Representative Gerald Connolly for amendments en bloc). The Senate Armed Services
Committee’s report of June 20 (S.Rept. 113-44) for the NDAA for FY2014, S. 1197, extended the
deadline to July 15, 2013, for the Defense Department to brief on Taiwan’s air power and directed
the department to submit a classified report on Taiwan’s air force by December 1. The conference
report for the NDAA for FY2013 required the briefing on Taiwan’s air force by April 15, and it
took place on July 17. The House-Senate agreement on the NDAA of December 10 did not
include Section 1265, while calling on the President to continue to take steps to enable Taiwan’s
air force to contribute to a “sufficient” self-defense capability. The Defense Department delivered
a (classified) report to Congress on January 3, 2014, on Taiwan’s air force.
On August 1, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved H.R. 419 (Ros-Lehtinen), the
Taiwan Policy Act of 2013. The bill, inter alia, would seek to strengthen Taiwan’s defense by
authorizing a number of arms sales, acceptance of Taiwan’s letter of request for F-16C/D fighters,
and a sale of excess U.S. Navy Perry-class frigates as Excess Defense Articles (EDA). The bill
also would require a report to Congress on arms sales and the implementation of the TRA.
Representative Michael McCaul sent a letter to Defense Secretary Hagel on September 5, 2013,
asking about adherence to the TRA and Six Assurances, given a claim by the PLA’s Director of
the Foreign Affairs Office that visiting PRC Defense Minister Chang Wanquan and Secretary
Hagel discussed a “working group” on arms sales to Taiwan. (Hagel did not say there would be
such a working group in the press conference.) The next month, Under Secretary of Defense for
Policy James Miller replied that the United States does not consult with China before deciding on
arms sales to Taiwan and did not agree to do so when Hagel met with Chang. Miller noted
adherence to the TRA but did not explicitly cite the Six Assurances. On October 21,
Representative Randy Forbes led eight Members to send a letter to Secretary Hagel, urging him to
invite Taiwan’s military to participate in RIMPAC 2014 near Hawaii, after the United States
invited the PLA Navy to participate at that multinational maritime exercise.241 Miller replied on
November 16 that the U.S. military has included Taiwan in an exercise in Hawaii to deal with
hurricanes (MAKANI PAHILI held by U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii) and decided to work with
Taiwan’s military at events other than RIMPAC (asserting no link to the invitation to the PLA).
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported S. 1683 (Menendez) on November 14, 2013, a
bill to authorize the President to transfer excess U.S. Navy Perry-class frigates to Taiwan (by
sale), Mexico, Thailand, and Pakistan, and for other purposes. On November 20, the House
Foreign Affairs Committees approved H.R. 3470 (Royce) which, inter alia, would authorize the
transfers of the frigates to Taiwan, Mexico, and Thailand. On November 21, Senator Menendez
attached the language to authorize transfers of frigates to Mexico, Thailand, Taiwan, and Pakistan
as a subsection called “Naval Vessel Transfer and Security Enhancement Act of 2013” to an
amendment on embassy security to amend the FY2014 NDAA, S. 1197. Also, Senator Coats
submitted an amendment to S. 1197 to authorize transfers of Perry-class frigates to Mexico,
Thailand, and Taiwan. Senator Coats submitted another amendment to S. 1197 to state that
Taiwan should be invited to RIMPAC 2014 to help its proficiency in humanitarian assistance and
disaster relief (HA/DR). The FY2014 NDAA (P.L. 113-66) did not include language on Taiwan.

(...continued)
Defense James Miller, letter to Representative Andrews, June 23, 2013.
241 Letter signed by Representatives Randy Forbes, Mike McIntyre, Rob Wittman, Madeleine Bordallo, Steve Chabot,
Eni Faleomavaega, Michael McCaul, and Robert Brady, to Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel, October 21, 2013.
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On April 7, 2014, the House agreed by voice vote to pass H.R. 3470, which incorporated H.Res.
494
and was renamed the Taiwan Relations Act Affirmation and Naval Vessel Transfer Act of
2014. (H.Res. 494 (Royce) would affirm the importance of the TRA on its 35th anniversary of
enactment.) In other congressional action, Representatives Forbes and Colleen Hanabusa
introduced on April 28 the Asia-Pacific Region Priority Act, H.R. 4495, with Section 204 to
require a report by April 1, 2016, from the Defense Secretary on the posture and readiness of
Taiwan’s maritime capabilities and to express the sense of Congress that the U.S. Navy should
invite Taiwan to participate in RIMPAC. (The study of Taiwan’s Navy would add to the studies of
Taiwan’s air force previously required by Congress.) The reporting requirement was incorporated
as Section 1236 of H.R. 4435, FY2015 NDAA, which the House passed on May 22. Also,
Section 1240A states that the President shall sell no fewer than 66 F-16C/D fighters to Taiwan. In
addition, Representative Forbes introduced language in the House Armed Services Committee’s
report on H.R. 4435 (H.Rept. 113-446 from the markup by the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces)
to direct the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to report by October 1, 2014, on any benefits and
associated costs and security requirements of integrating Taiwan’s early warning radar with other
U.S. missile defense and sensor systems to improve U.S. missile defense capabilities.
The Senate Armed Services Committee introduced on June 2, 2014, its bill for the FY2015
NDAA, S. 2410 (Levin), with Section 1212 to express the sense of the Senate that both the PRC
and Taiwan should have the opportunity to participate in (not observe) the HA/DR parts of
RIMPAC and other exercises. (During RIMPAC 2014, President Ma transited in Honolulu and
San Francisco, but he did not raise with Members of Congress and retired admirals the issue of
Taiwan joining another RIMPAC.242) On June 26, Senator Coats submitted amendments intended
to be proposed to S. 2410 to authorize Taiwan to fly C-130 aircraft to and from Guam, and to
authorize the Navy to transfer excess vessels to Taiwan. Senator Menendez submitted an
amendment, on July 24, intended to be proposed to S. 2410 on embassy security, foreign
assistance, and arms exports, including authority to transfer excess Perry-class frigates to Mexico
(by grant) and Taiwan (by sale). On September 18, Senator Rubio submitted an amendment
intended for S. 2410 to authorize the transfer of frigates to Mexico, Thailand, and Taiwan.
On December 2, 2014, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees issued their agreement
on the FY2015 NDAA. Thus, H.R. 3979 retained the House bill’s Section 1256 and expanded the
scope of the required report from Taiwan’s maritime capabilities to its self-defense capabilities. It
retained language of the Senate bill’s Section 1212 and House bill’s Section 1236 in the new
Section 1259A to express the sense of Congress that the United States should consider
opportunities to help enhance the maritime capabilities and nautical skills of Taiwan’s navy to
contribute to Taiwan’s self-defense and to regional peace and stability. It also retained the
language that the PRC and Taiwan should be afforded opportunities to participate in the HA/DR
portions of future multilateral exercises, such as RIMPAC. It dropped the House bill’s Section
1240A to require a sale of F-16C/D fighters. In addition, on December 4, the Senate passed S.
1683
to authorize transfers of frigates to Taiwan (by sale) and Mexico. The House passed S. 1683
on December 10.
Major U.S. Arms Sales as Notified to Congress
The following table provides information on U.S. sales (not deliveries) of major defense articles
and services to Taiwan, as approved by the President and formally notified to Congress since

242 Central News Agency, July 5, 2014.
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1990. Based on unclassified notices and news reports, this list includes the date of notification,
major item or service proposed for sale, and estimated value of the arms sales program. The list
was compiled based on unclassified notifications to Congress or announcements by the
Administration as well as press reports. These were primarily government-to-government Foreign
Military Sales (FMS) programs. Before the Defense Department may issue Letters of Offer and
Acceptance, the President must notify major FMS to Congress as required by Section 36(b) of the
Arms Export Control Act (AECA), P.L. 90-629.243 If 30 calendar days pass after the formal
notification and Congress does not pass a joint resolution of disapproval, the Executive Branch is
allowed to proceed with the proposed arms sales to Taiwan. Not all of these approved sales were
necessarily purchased by Taiwan. There have been other transfers of U.S. defense articles and
services not included in this list (that amounted to billions of dollars), including sales and
technical assistance with smaller individual values not required to be notified to Congress, those
with classified notifications, and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) licensed for export by the State
Department and notified to Congress under Section 36(c) of the AECA (subject to the commercial
confidentiality requirements of Section 38(e)). There have been leases of naval vessels and other
equipment. Moreover, each year, hundreds of Taiwan’s military personnel at different levels
receive training and education at U.S. military academies, colleges, and other institutions or units.
Table 2. Major U.S. Arms Sales as Notified to Congress
Date of
Major item or service as proposed
Value of program
notification
(usually part of a program with related support)
($ million)
1990
07/26
Cooperative Logistics Supply Support
$108
09/06
(1) C-130H transport aircraft
$45
1991
01/07
(100) MK-46 torpedoes
$28
07/24
(97) SM-1 Standard air defense missiles
$55
09/13
(110) M60A3 tanks
$119
11/18
Phase III PIP Mod Kits for HAWK air defense systems
$170
1992
05/27
Weapons, ammunition, support for 3 leased ships
$212
05/27
Supply support arrangement
$107
08/04
(207) SM-1 Standard air defense missiles
$126
09/14
(150) F-16A/B fighters
$5,800
09/14
(3) Patriot-derived Modified Air Defense System (MADS) fire units244
$1,300
09/18
(12) SH-2F LAMPS anti-submarine helicopters
$161

243 As with FMS worldwide, months or years after the President’s tentative decisions and Taiwan’s requests on which
arms to acquire, the role of Congress includes informal and formal review of major proposed FMS notified to Congress
(during which Congress may enact a joint resolution of disapproval) as stipulated under Section 36(b) of the AECA.
244 Commercial sale. Opall Barbara and David Silverberg, “Taiwanese May Soon Coproduce Patriot,” Defense News,
February 22-28, 1993; Military Balance 1999-2000.
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Date of
Major item or service as proposed
Value of program
notification
(usually part of a program with related support)
($ million)
1993
06/17
(12) C-130H transport aircraft
$620
06/25
Supply support arrangement
$156
07/29
(38) Harpoon anti-ship missiles
$68
07/30
Logistics support services for 40 leased T-38 trainers
$70
08/
(4) E-2T Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft245
$700
09/08
Logistics support services for MADS
$175
11/04
(150) MK-46 Mod 5 torpedoes
$54
11/09
Weapons, ammunition, and support for 3 leased frigates
$238
11/23
MK-41 Mod Vertical Launch Systems for ship-based air defense missiles
$103
1994
08/01
(80) AN/ALQ-184 electronic counter measure (ECM) pods
$150
09/12
MK-45 Mod 2 gun system
$21
1995
03/24
(6) MK-75 shipboard gun systems, (6) Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems
$75
06/07
Supply support arrangement
$192
1996
05/10
Improved Mobile Subscriber Equipment communications system
$188
05/10
(30) TH-67 training helicopters, (30) sets of AN/AVS-6 night vision goggles
$53
05/23
(465) Stinger missiles, (55) dual-mounted Stinger launcher systems
$84
06/24
(300) M60A3TTS tanks
$223
08/23
(1,299) Stinger surface-to-air missiles, (74) Avenger vehicle mounted guided
$420
missile launchers, (96) HMMWVs (high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled
vehicle)
09/05
(110) MK-46 MOD 5 anti-submarine torpedoes
$66
1997
02/14
(54) Harpoon anti-ship missiles
$95
05/23
(1,786) TOW 2A anti-armor guided missiles,
$81
(114) TOW launchers, (100) HMMWVs
07/24
(21) AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters246
$479
09/03
(13) OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Armed Scout helicopters
$172
11/09
Pilot training and logistics support for F-16 fighters
$280
11/09
Spare parts for various aircraft
$140

245 Flight International, September 1-7, 1993.
246 Taiwan reportedly ordered 63 AH-1W helicopters, 42 of which were delivered by early 2000, and Taiwan may order
an additional 24 helicopters (Defense News, March 6, 2000).
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Date of
Major item or service as proposed
Value of program
notification
(usually part of a program with related support)
($ million)
1998
01/28
(3) Knox-class frigates,247 (1) MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System
$300
06/01
(28) Pathfinder/Sharpshooter navigation and targeting pods for F-16 fighters248
$160
08/27
(58) Harpoon anti-ship missiles
$101
08/27
(61) Dual-mount Stinger surface-to-air missiles
$180
08/27
(131) MK 46 Mod 5(A)S anti-submarine torpedoes
$69
10/09
(9) CH-47SD Chinook helicopters
$486
1999
05/26
(240) AGM-114KS Hel fire II air-to-surface missiles
$23
05/26
(5) AN/VRC-92E SINCGARS radio systems,
$64
(5) Intelligence Electronic Warfare systems, (5) HMMWVs
07/30
Spare parts for F-5E/F, C-130H, F-16A/B, and IDF aircraft
$150
07/30
(2) E-2T Hawkeye 2000E airborne early warning aircraft
$400
2000
03/02
Modernization of the TPS-43F air defense radar to TPS-75V configuration
$96
03/02
(162) HAWK Intercept guided air defense missiles
$106
06/07
(39) Pathfinder/Sharpshooter navigation and targeting pods for F-16 fighters
$234
06/07
(48) AN/ALQ-184 ECM pods for F-16s
$122
09/28
(146) M109A5 howitzers, 152 SINCGARS radio systems
$405
09/28
(200) AIM-120C AMRAAMs for F-16 fighters
$150
09/28
(71) RGM-84L Harpoon anti-ship missiles
$240
09/28
Improved Mobile Subscriber Equipment (IMSE) communication system
$513
2001
07/18
(50) Joint Tactical Information Distribution Systems (JTIDS) terminals (a
$725
version of Link 16) for data links between aircraft, ships, and ground stations
09/05
(40) AGM-65G Maverick air-to-ground missiles for F-16s
$18
10/26
(40) Javelin anti-tank missile systems and (360) Javelin missiles
$51
10/30
Logistical support/spare parts for F-5E/F, C-130H, F-16A/B, and IDF aircraft
$288
2002
06/04
(3) AN/MPN-14 air traffic control radars
$108
09/04
(54) AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles
$250
09/04
Maintenance and spare parts for aircraft, radars, AMRAAMS, other systems
$174
09/04
(182) AIM-9M-1/2 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles
$36

247 In 1992, the Bush Administration submitted legislation that Congress passed to lease three Knox-class frigates to
Taiwan. Taiwan leased a total of six (and bought them in 1999) and purchased two in 1998 (plus one for spares).
248 The sale of the navigation/targeting pods excluded the laser designator feature, but the Pentagon notified Congress
on May 16, 2000, that 20 sets would be upgraded to include the feature.
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Date of
Major item or service as proposed
Value of program
notification
(usually part of a program with related support)
($ million)
09/04
(449) AGM-114M3 Hel fire II anti-armor missiles to equip AH-1W and OH-
$60
58D helicopters
10/11
(290) TOW-2B anti-tank missiles
$18
11/21
(4) Kidd-class destroyers
$875
2003
09/24
Multi-functional Information Distribution Systems (MIDS) (for Po Sheng)
$775
2004
03/30
(2) Ultra High Frequency Long Range Early Warning Radars
$1,776
2005
10/25
(10) AIM-9M Sidewinder and (5) AIM-7M Sparrow air-to-air missiles;
$280
continued pilot training and logistical support for F-16 fighters at Luke AFB
2007
02/28
(218) AMRAAMs and (235) Maverick air-to-ground missiles for F-16 fighters
$421
08/08
(60) AGM-84L Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles
$125
09/12
(144) SM-2 Block IIIA Standard air-defense missiles for Kidd-class destroyers
$272
09/12
(12) P-3C maritime patrol/ASW aircraft
$1,960
11/09
Patriot configuration 2 ground systems upgrade
$939
2008
10/3
(330) Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 missile defense missiles
$3,100
10/3
(32) UGM-84L sub-launched Harpoon anti-ship missiles
$200
10/3
spare parts for F-5E/F, C-130H, F-16A/B, IDF aircraft
$334
10/3
(182) Javelin anti-armor missiles
$47
10/3
upgrade of (4) E-2T aircraft (Hawkeye 2000 configuration)
$250
10/3
(30) AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters, (173) Stinger air-to-air
$2,532
missiles, (1,000) AGM-114L Longbow Hel fire missiles
2010
01/29
(114) PAC-3 missile defense missiles
$2,810
01/29
(60) UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters
$3,100
01/29
(12) Harpoon Block II anti-ship telemetry (training) missiles
$37
01/29
(60) MIDS (fol ow-on technical support for Po Sheng C4 systems)
$340
01/29
(2) Osprey-class mine hunting ships (refurbished and upgraded)
$105
2011
09/21
Retrofit of 145 F-16A/B fighters, with 176 AESA radars, JDAMs, etc.
$5,300
09/21
Continuation of training of F-16 pilots at Luke Air Force Base
$500
09/21
Spare parts for F-16A/B, F-5E/F, C-130H, and IDF aircraft
$52


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Author Contact Information

Shirley A. Kan

Specialist in Asian Security Affairs
skan@crs.loc.gov, 7-7606


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