【Military Subplane】Author: Sky Wolf
In recent years, United States' arms sales to Taiwan have frequently delayed delivery, and even the supply of spare parts has become a problem, which has made Taiwan feel very helpless. According to the latest announcement issued by Taiwan's auditing department on 5 September, some of the F-16 fighter parts ordered by the Taiwan Air Force from United States have not only not arrived for a long time, but some parts are even out of stock. What's even more outrageous is that even after the arrival of some parts due to unqualified acceptance, they have been delayed for repair, and there is no need for use when they are repaired.
▲Taiwan Air Force F-16 fighter
Taiwan weapons and parts procured from United States have repeatedly encountered delays, and this has become the "new normal" in US-Taiwan arms sales. According to a report by the Cato Institute, a United States think tank, as of June 2023, the amount of delayed delivery of United States arms sales to Taiwan has reached $20.53 billion, including 1,700 Tao 2B missiles and 100 launch systems and other key equipment originally scheduled to begin delivery in 2022.
In the face of these circumstances, the Taiwan military's response is very weak. According to the "improvement measures" of the Taiwan Air Force, their response method is only to report to the US side in a "timely manner" the situation that the delivery is not up to standard. However, not only did the United States not process these feedback in a timely manner, but even some of the "deposits" that should have been returned were not returned. By the end of 2023, Taiwan's defense department still has NT$24.4 billion in arms purchase deposits stuck in the United States. This has caused the outside world to question what kind of position the Taiwan authorities are in in this arms sale.
▲ The Taiwan troops who paid the money could not get the corresponding equipment
Various problems in the arms sales between the United States and Taiwan have aroused dissatisfaction among the Taiwan people, and some netizens even questioned, "Is United States a fraud group?" "Indeed, in the face of delayed delivery, defective equipment, and untimely delivery, Taiwan has to tolerate it again and again. After discovering that there were a large number of defective weapons sold by the United States, the Taiwan military was unable to recover its losses because it missed the statute of limitations for making claims.
The Stinger missiles sold United States Taiwan are also a major focus. According to the latest military procurement budget, the Taiwan Army plans to purchase an additional 1,985 Stinger portable air defense missiles, bringing the total purchase volume to 2,485 units, with a budget of up to NT$69 billion. However, the analysis pointed out that the price paid by the Taiwan military for these missiles was three times the purchase price of the United States military, which was obviously slaughtered as a "wronged leader." To make matters worse, the Taiwanese military's orders are not expected to be delivered until 2031, and all this depends on whether the development of the Russia-Ukraine conflict will lead to further delays.
▲ The Taiwan military practiced operating the "Stinger" air defense missile
The situation in Ukraine has exacerbated the supply pressure on the military-industrial complex of United States. In the case of the Stinger missiles produced by Raytheon, Raytheon's orders are full due to the large number of weapons sent to Ukraine by United States and NATO, and the production line is expected to operate until 2029. And because United States prioritizes the supply of armaments to Ukraine, Taiwan's orders can only be placed behind. Raytheon has even openly admitted that production efficiency has been seriously affected because some parts of the Stinger missile are no longer available on the market.
This is not an isolated case. Taiwan's F-16V fighter procurement case, MQ-9B UAV procurement case and other arms sales projects are facing delays due to the Ukraine crisis and global supply chain problems. In particular, the United States' priority supply policy has always led to Taiwan being "squeezed into the back row" and has no priority. Even if the Taiwan authorities pay a huge amount of money for arms purchases, the delivery of weapons is still far away.
▲Behind arms sales is the exchange of interests
Behind the arms sales between the United States and Taiwan is not only a simple arms deal, but also an exchange of political and strategic interests. United States has long sold weapons to Taiwan, which has not only increased Taiwan's dependence on United States, but also demonstrated to the outside world its commitment to "support" Taiwan. However, in terms of actual results, many of the weapons purchased by Taiwan did not meet expectations. This means that Taiwan can only buy United States equipment at a high price, but cannot receive real technical support.
For United States, Taiwan is just a strategic pawn. While United States has enhanced Taiwan's military capabilities through arms sales, its real goal is to tie Taiwan to the United States's strategic chariot and ensure that Taiwan plays a good role in containing Chinese mainland in the Asia-Pacific region. Just as many Taiwan media have pointed out, United States arms sales to Taiwan are not only inflated in price, but also impose various restrictions on them, with the result that the Taiwan armed forces have been constrained in their actual use.
Taiwan's military has repeatedly suffered setbacks in US-Taiwan arms sales, but the Taiwan authorities still do not seem to have learned enough lessons from them. It is foreseeable that as the issue of US-Taiwan arms sales continues to ferment, Taiwan's passive position in United States arms sales will further intensify. If the Taiwan authorities do not change this dependent-on arms procurement model, future arms purchases will not only become more expensive, but will also face more quality and delivery problems.