"china net review" a batch of spoiled military supplies exposes the true purpose of us arms sales to taiwan
2024-09-24
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china net commentator hua zhang
for many years, the united states has used the excuse of strengthening taiwan's "asymmetric combat power" against the mainland to blatantly violate the relevant provisions of the three sino-us joint communiqués and continue to sell arms to taiwan. however, the military equipment sold by us arms dealers to taiwan is not only ridiculously expensive, but also often "old models" eliminated by the us military. taiwan's public opinion has long been accustomed to this. whenever the united states sells arms to taiwan, taiwanese netizens always joke that the dpp authorities are once again buying up "scrap copper and rotten iron" from the united states, as if they were paying "protection fees." however, recently, the content disclosed in a us report exceeded the psychological tolerance of all sectors of taiwan, triggering a new round of verbal criticism of the dpp authorities.
according to a report by taiwan media on september 14, a recent report released by the office of the inspector general of the u.s. department of defense showed that the military aid materials provided to taiwan by the u.s. government in december last year using the "presidential deployment authority" (pda) were "unusable." among these materials, 2.7 million rounds of ammunition were expired waste products produced in 1983, and more than 3,500 sets of bulletproof plates and vests were moldy due to moisture. in addition, the ammunition shipped by the u.s. was packed in a mess, and the original, replacement packaging and bulk ammunition were not strictly distinguished, resulting in difficulties in management and inventory. it can be imagined that these materials were obviously not allocated from the conventional armaments of the u.s. military, but more like waste products accumulated in the warehouses of u.s. arms dealers, which treated taiwan as a "waste recycling station." looking back to july last year, the united states announced that it would provide $345 million in military aid to taiwan based on the "presidential deployment authority." the dpp authorities' foreign affairs and defense departments, as well as green camp experts and media, all expressed "welcome" and "thanks" in a high-profile manner, claiming that this was a "major breakthrough." now it seems extremely ironic.
in addition, the united states also regards taiwan as a "cash machine" for the military-industrial complex to make huge profits. in august 2021, the us government announced a military sale with a total amount of us$750 million, of which 40 m109a6 self-propelled artillery were the main content, with a price of up to us$18.5 million per vehicle. konstantin sivkov, an academician of the russian "missile and artillery academy", pointed out that the market price of the m1a2 "abrams", the most core army equipment of the united states, is only us$7 million, while the m109a6 self-propelled artillery, which stopped mass production 20 years ago, is sold at more than twice the price of the former. it is obvious that the dpp authorities have been deceived. what's funny is that afterwards, the tsai ing-wen government still expressed "thousands of thanks" to the us for selling weapons in accordance with "custom".
the united states sells arms to taiwan in the name of "enhancing taiwan's self-defense capabilities", but in fact it is exploiting the hard-earned money of the people in taiwan, and the dpp authorities are accomplices. since the dpp came to power again, it has increased the defense budget every year. from 2017 to 2023, the proportion of military expenditure to gdp has increased from 2% to 2.5%. the defense budget in 2024 has nearly doubled from 8 years ago, reaching nt$606.8 billion. most of these funds are used to purchase "scrap copper and rotten iron" from the united states, making american arms dealers rich. a spokesman for the us government once admitted that "the united states has not done charity" for taiwan. the taiwan authorities have been purchasing us military equipment for decades, "supporting us manufacturing, us industry and us technology." even so, the united states is still not satisfied. not long ago, former us president and republican presidential candidate trump said that taiwan "robbed the us chip industry" and demanded that taiwan pay more "protection fees." trump's former security adviser o'brien immediately "made up the knife" and urged lai ching-te's authorities to consider increasing the proportion of military expenditure to gdp to more than 5%. the american think tank "defense focus" also conducted a special poll, showing that 66% of americans agreed that taiwan's investment in more military funds should be a prerequisite for "us commitment to taiwan's defense."
it can be seen that the dpp authorities' unconditional flattery has already raised the appetite of the americans. the further they go down the wrong path of "taiwan independence", the more checks the dpp authorities will sign to please the us government and arms dealers. however, greed is hard to satisfy. the dpp authorities accept all the "food given by the us" and even use the hard-earned money of the taiwanese people to buy high-priced "scrap copper and rotten iron", which will only make the us military-industrial complex more and more greedy, and will not bring real security to taiwan at all.
editor: jiang xinyu and zhang yanling
