WASHINGTON —
The top U.S. diplomat stationed in Taiwan said that the conflict in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East have affected the production and delivery progress of U.S. arms. As China becomes more and more aggressive, the U.S. is also speeding up the production of arms. If the war in Ukraine ends, the U.S. should shift its focus back to Taiwan’s defense needs and work hard to speed up the delivery of arms. At the same time, the Beijing authorities have issued a warning that the PLA’s patrols around the island and military deterrence have become the norm in recent years, and the “more fun the Taiwan independence elements make, the tighter the rope around their necks will be.”
Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Taipei Office, made the above statement in an exclusive interview with Taiwan’s Liberty Times last Friday (March 7). Liberty Times and its English sister newspaper Taipei Times published the interview report and the full Chinese text on Monday.
The report said that in response to the question of whether there is a chance to speed up the delivery of arms to Taiwan after the situation in Ukraine stabilizes, Gu Liyan clarified that the figure of 20 billion “should not be correct”. He said that according to the latest figures checked, “it is actually less than half of 20 billion US dollars, and this figure is constantly decreasing.”
Accelerating the delivery of arms to Taiwan is a priority
Gu Liyan said the main reasons for the delay include factors such as the conflict in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, which have strained the production capacity of the U.S. defense industrial base. At the same time, due to China’s increasingly aggressive military actions in the Indo-Pacific region, many countries have increased their defense budgets and competed to purchase U.S. military equipment, which has further increased the pressure on the supply chain.
“However, for us, Taiwan is of course the top priority, so we are also working hard to speed up the delivery schedule, especially in terms of equipment related to asymmetric warfare,” the report quoted Gu Liyan as saying that this would have a relatively large impact on Taiwan. If the war in Ukraine ends, the United States should shift its focus back to Taiwan’s defense needs. The United States is also considering various collaborations with allies and partners around the world on defense production bases, using the production capacity of other countries to achieve common goals.
Although U.S. President Donald Trump has only been in office for more than a month, Gu Liyan believes that the Trump administration’s ability to quickly confirm its support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and its opposition to any attempt to change the status quo in Taiwan through force or coercion with major allies including Japan and South Korea is the new government’s “most remarkable achievement” in U.S. diplomacy. This was reflected in the joint statement issued after President Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, as well as the statements from the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, and South Korea.
The United States wants to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait and avoid conflict
The American Institute in Taiwan posted part of the interview with Gu Liyan on its Facebook account on Monday. The post said that Gu Liyan emphasized the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait at the beginning of the interview.
“President Trump has made it very clear that one of his priorities is global peace, and whether it’s ending the war in Ukraine or redoubling our commitment to deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, our goal is to prevent conflict, and preventing conflict in the Taiwan Strait is particularly important. To achieve this goal, we must work harder than in the past,” said Gu Liyan.
He said that whether it is building the deterrence capabilities of the United States and its allies, or Taiwan’s defense reform, adopting asymmetric capabilities, and expanding Taiwan’s reserve forces, all of these are important elements in supporting the United States and its allies such as the Philippines, South Korea and Japan to jointly ensure sufficient deterrence capabilities.
In addition, Gu Liyan also mentioned that 90% of American companies said they plan to maintain or expand their investments in Taiwan.
“We view Taiwan as a partner of choice in the development of key technologies that are critical to winning the competition in the 21st century, both in advanced technology and manufacturing. Therefore, the U.S.-Taiwan relationship has a solid foundation not only in values and history, but also in common interests,” he said.
The PLA’s island patrols have become a regular occurrence
Regarding Gu Liyan’s mention that the United States will speed up the delivery of arms to Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a regular press conference on Monday that China firmly opposes US-Taiwan military ties and the US sale of weapons to Taiwan.
She said, “The Taiwan issue is at the core of China’s core interests and the first insurmountable red line in China-US relations.” China urges the US to stop selling weapons to Taiwan and establishing military contacts with Taiwan, stop creating tensions in the Taiwan Strait, and stop endangering peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
At the same time, China’s Ministry of Defense also published on Sunday the content of an interview with the media by Wu Qian, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army and Armed Police Force delegation at the Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress held in Beijing.
In response to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense’s claim that China is escalating its military threats in the Central and global regions and undermining regional stability, as well as Taiwan’s alleged plan to purchase weapons worth tens of billions of dollars from the United States, Wu Qian stated that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory and the one-China principle is the universal consensus of the international community.
He said that for some time the DPP authorities have “stepped up their separatist provocations for ‘Taiwan independence’, attempting to ‘rely on the United States to seek independence’ and ‘resist reunification by force'”, but “a few American-made weapons cannot change the fate of the demise of ‘Taiwan independence’.” The People’s Liberation Army is an action-oriented group that “fights ‘independence’ and promotes reunification.” In recent years, island-circling cruises and military deterrence have become the norm.
“The more the ‘Taiwan independence’ elements make trouble, the tighter the rope around their necks will be, and the sharper the sword over their heads will be,” Wu Qian said.