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Image source,CNA
The image shows Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as commander-in-chief of the three armed forces observing exercise Hanguang (data photo).
The US Department of Defense announced on Monday (November 7) that it would sell the “Battlefield Information and Communication System” to Taiwan for a total of approximately NT $ 7.9 billion (US $ 280 million). This is President Donald Trump’s sixth arms sale to Taiwan this year, and also the 11th arms sale to Taiwan since he took office.
Taiwanese Defense Minister Yan Defa went to the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan on Tuesday morning to prepare for an interview and said the United States announced that it will continue to sell arms to Taiwan after the US presidential elections in accordance with the “Law of Relations with Taiwan “and the” Six Guarantees “. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense expressed its gratitude for this.
In fact, Trump has become the US president who announced the most arms sales to Taiwan since the breakdown of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the United States in his four-year term. But after the Joe Biden Democratic Party takes office, whether it will continue to sell arms to Taiwan has become the focus of attention from all walks of life.
Bonnie Glaser, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank, said in a BBC interview in China after the US elections that US arms sales to Taiwan were based on the Law of Relations with Taiwan and that Bi was on stage. This latter policy will continue and what Taiwan needs is to strengthen its military defense capabilities. However, some analysts said that after Biden took office, the frequency and possibility of arms sales to Taiwan will decrease, and the content of arms sales will also change and Beijing will be known. It will not be as prominent as the Trump administration and will use arms sales to Taiwan to stimulate Beijing.
Beijing continues to criticize arms sales between the United States and Taiwan.
In late November, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying stated at a press conference that China strongly opposes the sale of US arms to Taiwan. This position is clear and consistent. She questioned: “I don’t know what fellow Taiwanese think about the wealth created by their hard work and its use to buy large quantities of second-hand American guns and act as an ATM for American interest groups.”
The United States Defense and Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) stated in a press release that arms sales are based on the Taiwan Relations Act and help the continued modernization of the Taiwan military, maintain capabilities Reliable defense systems maintain regional political stability, military balance, and the economy. Progress “is in the interest of the United States.” The press release indicated that the arms sale plan has been notified to the United States Congress.
Image source,Taiwanese Ministry of Defense
Chinese mainland army planes have recently flown over the so-called “strait center line” many times. Picture shows on February 10, 2020, Taiwan’s F-16 fighter jet took off to monitor the accompanying Chinese military aircraft flying around Taiwan (Photo by Taiwan Ministry of National Defense).
What is the “Battlefield Information Communication System”?
The arms sale case includes 24 communication relays, 154 communication nodes, 8 network management systems and related equipment, system technical support, personnel training, and logistics support. The estimated total is US $ 280 million.
Su Ziyun, a researcher at the Taiwan Defense Expert Group’s National Defense Security Research Institute, analyzed the BBC’s Chinese language. The main objective of this arms sale was to build a “mobile field network”. He said that 154 sets of communication nodes (nodes) are similar to the “base stations” of mobile phones, which can provide terminal equipment to access the Internet. The 24 sets of repeaters and the network administration room, such as a mobile telecommunications office, can be moved to the battlefield.
He also stated that these teams are designed to enhance the comprehensive strike capability of the Taiwan Army “joint battalion”, including front-line observations, drones, artillery firepower, or infantry units that can be integrated into one to achieve real-time synchronization and comprehensive combat capabilities for joint operations. .
Furthermore, he emphasized that this communication device can cooperate with the civilian population: “According to public information, this battlefield information communication system is mainly used by the Syun Lien system as a ground force, and it can be connected to the system of civil communication. As a military backup, the purpose is to improve the survival rate of ground troops. “
However, the Taiwanese military researcher and director of the “Taiwan Strait Security Research Center”, Mei Fuxing, declared to the public that this arms sale belongs to the “third generation land area communication system” of Taiwan, but it also seems to show that Taiwan does not yet have the “integrity of its own development.” The capabilities of field communication systems “.
Image source,fake images
Taiwan needs these equipment to enhance the integrated strike capability of the Army’s Joint Senior Battalion (Ebran tank shown in photo)
Will the military interaction between the United States and Taiwan continue?
On the eve of the US announcement of the arms sale, Li Yingjie, director of the American Association in Taiwan (AIT), said in an online forum last week that there will be a US $ 5.2 billion sale of US arms to Taiwan next. year. However, Taiwanese Defense Minister Yan Defa said at the time that the US fiscal year is different from Taiwan’s, and it is inappropriate to comment on what US officials are saying.
However, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense revealed for the first time on Monday that Taiwan will have two more US military purchases in 2021; Taiwanese Vice Minister of National Defense Zhang Zheping stated in the Legislative Yuan that there are still US military purchases worth about US $ 800 million, but did not specify the content of the arms purchase.
The outside world has therefore analyzed that in recent years, as tensions between the United States and China continue, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have reflected not only the warming of trade between the United States and Taiwan, but also Beijing’s countermeasures against the interaction between Taiwan and the United States. Recently, the People’s Liberation Army has continuously held military demonstrations around the Taiwan Strait. Chinese military aircraft have repeatedly flown over the central line of the Taiwan Strait. People are concerned if the relationship between the “US-China-Taiwan triangle” abandons the past policy of “Strategic ambiguity” and moves towards “The strategy is clear.”
I-wei Jennifer Chang, a researcher at the Taiwan Center for Global Studies (GTI), a Washington think tank, once told BBC China that although discussions about whether the United States abandons the “fuzzy strategy” are increasing, she note that the United States and Taiwan are not abandoning them at this time. Vague strategic plans.
Image source,Office of the President, Taiwan
The Leshan Radar Base, located in the high Hsinchu Mountain in northwestern Taiwan, mainly faces the western part of Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait.
Su Ziyun said that in accordance with Article 234 of the “United States Defense Authorization Act of 2021” (NDAA) just passed by the United States Congress, the US military should strengthen the use of regulations military and 5G broadband communications and “combined with the common development of allies.” The purchase of communications equipment by the US military is in line with the requirements of the US Anti-Authorization Act.
Chen Guoming, a Taiwanese military researcher and interview director for the Global Defense Journal, stressed to BBC China that the US government is expected to sell Taiwan’s most wanted F35 fighter jet to Taiwan in the short term.
Chen Guoming said that US arms sales to Taiwan will continue, but will basically keep the “military and military weapons that will not have enough food and will never starve”; “At present, Taiwan and the United States have signed seven purchase orders with a budget of tens of billions of dollars. And the follow-up maintenance funds, Taiwan will have money to buy other military weapons in the future? This is a big problem “.
