press coverage on the TW hearing

With the Obama administration keeping quiet on what the U.S. should do
about weapons sales to Taiwan and a growing number of influential
figures calling for a rethink of the U.S. relationship with the
island, Taipei could be forgiven for wondering whether it has any
allies left in the big country across the pond.The message from U.S.
Congress: We're still here. Speaking Thursday at the first full
committee hearing of the House of Representative's Committee on
Foreign Relations specifically about Taiwan in seven years, the
Republican chairman of the committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen noted a
"new spirit of appeasement in the air" as she argued the U.S. must not
back down from its relationship with Taiwan due to pressure from
China, and that it should support the island with the sale of new
F-16s and upgrades to its existing planes.Congress is among the
world's most stalwart supporters of Taiwan, and has refused to back
down in the face of recently shifting political winds. Last month, 45
members of the Senate, representing both sides of the aisle, signed a
letter to President Barack Obama urging the administration to sell Taiwan the weapons it has requested.
In addition to reiterating the weapons request, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen also
said Thursday that she would push for new legislation to update the
Taiwan Relations Act. The act, passed in 1979, requires the U.S. to
sell weapons to Taiwan necessary for its defense. Although the
specific details of any new legislation remained unclear, a witness
who spoke at the hearing, U.S.-Taiwan Business Council president
Rupert Hammond-Chambers, told China Real Time that he understood it
would be designed to more specifically address Taiwan's defensive
needs and increase the oversight Congress has on the U.S.-Taiwan
relationship.Speaking at the hearing, four expert witnesses argued
that F-16s, although unlikely to tilt the balance of power in the
Taiwan Strait, were critical to demonstrating the U.S. commitment to
Taiwan's defense and would also be highly useful in the event of a
naval blockade or spats that could break out over neighboring
islands.Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou has made repeated calls for
the release of the planes along with other weapons, even as Taiwan's
Defense Ministry announced last week it was cutting the budget
it set aside to purchase new F-16s.One witness at the hearing,
Armitage International partner Randy Schriver, warned about the
"growing influence" of China in U.S. decision making and said it was
"absurd" to think China would change its position on key issues like
Iran, North Korea or the appreciation of the yuan based on a changed
U.S. stance towards Taiwan.He also questioned concerns voiced within
the Obama administration about timing weapons sales correctly:
"There's no right time...these things get backed up and backed up, and
then the Chinese are looking at a much larger package. They (the
administration) need to just, there's not a better way to say it, they
need to be bolder and more courageous and deal with the fallout,
because historical evidence suggests we can absorb the fallout."The
meeting was also notable for the lack of any State Department
representatives. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Derek
Mitchell, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian
and Pacific Security Affairs, were originally scheduled to testify,
but did not attend due to a scheduling conflict, according to a person
familiar with the matter. Rep. Dan Burton called the no-show
disappointing and said it represented "an absence of concern that is
remarkable," adding: "I think they were afraid because they don't have
the answers."With the last F-16s scheduled to roll off the production
line in 2013, Mr. Hammond-Chambers warned that new orders might need
to come in as early as the end of 2011. Otherwise, he said, the
production line might be shut down completely - an outcome, others
have pointed out, that would cost the U.S. much needed jobs and lead
to even trickier negotiations over the sale of more advanced fighters.
Although he said the potential shutdown of the F-16 line should not
dictate whether or not to sell the weapons, Mr. Hammond-Chambers
argued it forced a tight timeline on the decision. "It is a
consideration for when you make the decision to sell," he said. "If
you leave it too long, the decision is made for you.""At what point do
you ask whether the administration is violating the Taiwan Relations
Act," he continued. "Only Congress can step in and do something about
that."- Paul Mozur. Follow him on Twitter @paulmozur
Dear all, Below please find
several news coverage on the hearing yesterday:
1. 美議員擬提案 強化台灣關係法
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2011/new/jun/17/today-fo2.htm
2. 美議員齊聲要求售台F16戰機
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/110617/1/2thiq.html 3.
美議員：台灣的民主比中國槍桿有力
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1628816 4. 美議員再施壓 促對台出售戰機
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iYkU6VB_bYdRO2IkrX7A87dTcUXQ?docId=top0002.110617005005
5. 國會聽證 兩黨促售台F-16
http://www.worldjournal.com/view/full_news/14355432/article-%E5%9C%8B%E6%9C%83%E8%81%BD%E8%AD%89-%E5%85%A9%E9%BB%A8%E4%BF%83%E5%94%AE%E5%8F%B0F-16?instance=m2
6. 美眾院聽證會 議員促售台戰機
http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR6/6404123.shtml
Although we are glad that we got all these great friends speaking for
Taiwan, we have to keep pushing the Administration to fulfill the arms
sales package and reinforce the U.S' support for Taiwan