More Scrutiny Needed for Arms Purchases and Defense Budget
China Times Editorial, October 4, 2024
Recently, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) has been preoccupied with clarifications of and denials on the news reports about the controversies of the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. What troubles the public the most is the opaque messages presented by the MND, and its shirking of responsibility, attributing to the manipulation of “American-skeptic” theory and the cognitive warfare.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) avoids review of price comparison and the prevention of corruption in the arms procurements. This not only involves the taxpayers’ money, but also affects deeply the overall defense strategy and the security of the Taiwanese people.
Just a few days ago, the price gouging over Taiwan's arms procurement by the biggest military industry, the Raytheon Technologies (RTX) was exposed, which gave rise to the questioning of U.S. “rock-solid” security commitment to Taiwan.
Fortunately, the United States is governed by the rule of law. The RTX has been forced by law to shoulder its responsibility. However, the total dependence on the United States on the part of the DPP's defense policy also exposed DPP's loss of autonomy and the mark “sucker” that it bears.
Early in June, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) has found that the RTX involved in illegal fraud by price gouging in arms sales, leading to the loss of money by friendly countries. The case has been sent to the Justice Department for investigation.
A few days ago, Taiwan's internet news media reported that the RTX's price gouging in Taiwan's 2013 procurement of Patriot Missiles and 2017 procurement of Radar System has caused Taiwan a loss of US$250 million. Taiwan's MND stated that the U.S. Justice Department has reached a plea agreement with the RTX and that the RTX will reimburse Taiwan its loss.
In addition, there are backlog in Taiwan's arms procurement. For example, over the last five years, Taiwan has paid NT$165 billion (about US$5.15 billion) for the procurement of F-16V fighters. Originally the first batch of fighters should be delivered by the United States in 2023. However, due to the Ukraine war, conflict between Isreal and Hamas, and the shrinking capacity of U.S. military industries, not one F-16V has been delivered.
The backlog has reached US$20 billion, but there is nothing the U.S. government can do. On the part of the DPP administration, it has no choice but to suffer in silence.
The fact reveals Taiwan's overdependence on the United States for its defense. However, the MND intentionally ignored this unreasonable phenomenon and emphasized instead, in its statement, that the exposure of the price gouging by the RTX is apparently a manipulation of “American-skeptic” theory. What's worse, the MND, for the first time, put “China” a traditional denomination used by the DPP instead of the mainland or or Communist China, in the press release. This indicates that the MND has veered into DPP's anti-China and “Two-State Theory” thinking. The MND has lost its non-political and non-partisan status.
Taiwan's defense budget has been rising every year. It reaches NT$647 billion (about US$20 billion) next year, the historic height. However, the items and the price of the arms procurements are all decided by the United States; former U.S. President Donald Trump even asked Taiwan to raise its defense budget to 10 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). Although this attachment of Taiwan's defense policy to the United States has upheld the DPP's ideology, it was done at the expense of Taiwan taxpayers and the spiraling of cross-strait hostility.
At the time when the Legislative Yuan is going to review the central government’s proposed general budget, it is paramount that the opposition party launch an overall review on the defense strategy, tactics, and arms requirements of Taiwan.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20241004004934-262101?chdtv