this candid report from the us has made the taiwan authorities unable to laugh
2024-09-14
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reference news reported on september 14(text/wang mian) according to taiwan media reports on september 14, a report recently released by the office of the inspector general of the u.s. department of defense has caused a stir in taiwan. the report pointed out that the military aid materials taiwan received from the u.s. "presidential deployment authority" (pda) in december last year were "unusable". why "unusable"? it turned out that according to the report, 2.7 million rounds of ammunition in the military aid materials were produced in 1983 and have expired, and more than 3,500 sets of bullet-proof plates and bulletproof vests were damp and moldy.
reading on, the contents disclosed in the report made taiwanese people even more upset. the report said that this batch of military supplies, totaling more than 340 pallets, had been stranded at an air force base in california for three months, and had been exposed to the sun, rain and water while waiting to be transported to taiwan. it turned out that the us army did not request a special air transport mission until nearly two months after transporting these supplies to the collection point. due to the lack of sufficient and appropriate storage space at the base, this batch of military supplies had such a "bad fate".
a staff member of the american institute in taiwan said that the 120 freight pallets taiwan received at the end of december 2023 contained 3,000 sets of damp and moldy bulletproof plates and 500 damp and moldy tactical vests. officials from the u.s. army's tank vehicle and weapons department recommended not to wear these equipment. in addition, the taiwan authorities' defense department wrote to the american institute in taiwan that month, pointing out that a large amount of expired ammunition had been received and the packaging was messy.
the report even described that taiwan spent several weeks "unpacking, drying and counting" these damp and moldy supplies. the u.s. department of defense inspector general warned: "broadly speaking, shipping items that cannot perform missions will undermine the united states' ability to achieve security cooperation goals and may lead to a decline in partners' trust in the united states." regarding such a big truth, officials from the american institute in taiwan pointed out that this really made taiwan's senior officials feel like they were "clearing out unnecessary inventory."
in july 2023, the us announced that it would provide taiwan with $345 million in stockpile items in accordance with the "presidential withdrawal authority". at that time, the dpp authorities' foreign affairs department, defense department, green camp experts and media all excitedly expressed "welcome" and "thank you" for the us move, loudly claiming that this was a "major breakthrough" and even exaggerating the so-called "political significance" of providing military aid to taiwan in the form of "withdrawal from existing stocks".
but the truth is, the biden administration agreed to use the "presidential authority" to provide military aid to taiwan, which is in a non-emergency state, in order to alleviate the criticism from members of congress that the united states had received money but had been slow to deliver up to $19 billion worth of arms to taiwan on time.
some media on the island who understand the situation questioned at the time, "eating from others' soft mouths, taking from others' hands is short", "the cost behind it is probably difficult to measure". if it were not for the straightforward report of the office of the inspector general of the us department of defense, the taiwanese people would probably still be in the dark. the taiwan defense department and the dpp authorities were indeed "soft-mouthed" and did not say a single harsh word. they only responded to the reporter's question lightly, "the items and status of the military aid delivered have been jointly reviewed and handled by taiwan and the united states."
in the comments section under the relevant news, taiwanese netizens could not help but curse: "this is simply garbage!" another netizen replied, "taiwan has been the garbage dump of the united states for a long time," "what is handed over to taiwan is low-quality goods. if taiwan does not speak out, it will eat shit," "who knew that i would meet someone who speaks the truth? it's a headache. everyone thought they had pretended to be fine." a more sober netizen said: "one leaf can tell the coming of autumn! one action often reveals the other party's true mentality."
on december 28, 2023, the bullet-resistant plates of us military aid materials became damp and moldy. (taiwan's "china times news" reproduced the report of the office of the inspector general of the us department of defense)
in july 2023, the us military aid materials m240b 7.62mm machine guns were randomly scattered and damp. (taiwan's "china times news network" reproduced from the report of the office of the inspector general of the us department of defense)
