(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The first batch of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States in 2019 have arrived in Taiwan one after another. At noon on Friday (October 2), two of them were the first to arrive at the Taitung Air Force Zhihang Base in the east. This is the first time in 29 years that Taiwan has purchased new fighter jets.
Taiwan's Defense Minister Gu Lixiong said in an interview at the Legislative Yuan that "of course we will not only deliver these two aircraft before the end of the year," and the subsequent specific delivery schedule will be coordinated with the US project office.
These two fighter jets are manufactured by Lockheed Martin. They took off from Texas in the United States in mid-August and were subsequently refueled and refurbished in Hawaii. According to reports from the South China Morning Post and other media in early September, the two fighter jets were originally expected to arrive in Taiwan at the end of August, but were stranded in Hawaii for a long time for some reason. Outsiders speculated that it may be related to technical or weather problems. Neither Taiwan nor the United States officials have confirmed the reason for the delay in the delivery of these two F-16Vs.
At the end of 2019, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed the "Special Budget for the Procurement of New Fighter Aircraft" and compiled a total budget of approximately NT$247.2 billion from 2020 to 2026 to purchase 66 F-16Vs from the United States. The United States originally expected to deliver two aircraft in 2023, and all of them would be delivered by 2026. Some Taiwanese opposition parties have questioned the delay in arms purchases, demanding that the government take inventory and publicly explain which weapons have not yet been delivered.
On the eve of the F-16V's arrival in Taitung, Kimi Chi, a 37-year-old Taichung resident, went to the scene specifically to take pictures of the military aircraft arriving in Taiwan. Talking about the delay in delivery, he told AFP that "good things come in hard times... in terms of hardware capabilities, there will definitely be improvements." Eric Chan, a 57-year-old former air force soldier, said that these fighter jets deployed in Taitung will play a very important defense role. "The threat from the Chinese Communist Party has always existed, so we absolutely need to strengthen our defense capabilities."
This F-16V arms purchase case is called the "Fengxiang Project." The F-16V is equipped with more advanced avionics, weapons and radar systems, which will help strengthen Taiwan's air defense system; if these 66 new fighters are added, Taiwan will have a total of more than 200 F-16 series fighters. There is also a "Fengzhan Project" that focuses on upgrading the performance of Taiwan's existing F-16A/B fleet.
The delivery of the new fighter jets coincided with the conclusion of the "Special Xi Meeting" between the leaders of the United States and China in Washington. In May this year, the two countries also held a "Special-Xi meeting" in Beijing. At that time, U.S. President Trump said in an interview that arms sales to Taiwan were a "very good bargaining chip" in U.S.-China negotiations, causing some public opinion to worry that he might delay arms sales to Taiwan in order to maintain stable relations with China. However, US Ambassador to China David Perdue denied this statement on September 27.
Previously, the United States approved approximately US$11 billion in arms sales to Taiwan at the end of last year, the largest in history. However, another batch of US$14 billion in arms sales has not yet been approved by Trump.
In response to the delivery of F-16V fighter jets, Reuters, Taiwan Central News Agency and other media quoted a US State Department spokesperson as saying that the US policy towards Taiwan has not changed and it adheres to the "One China Policy" based on the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three US-China Communiqués and the Six Assurances. The spokesperson also said that the United States "continues to stand with friends and allies in the Indo-Pacific region to advance common prosperity, security and values, including Taiwan."
According to the U.S. Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. government is obligated to provide defense weapons to Taiwan and assist Taiwan in maintaining its self-defense capabilities. The Chinese government has always opposed the United States' sales of weapons to Taiwan and has repeatedly asked the United States to "stop the dangerous act of arming Taiwan." The Taiwan government believes that in the face of China's attempts to invade Taiwan and its continued use of military aircraft and warships to intrude on Taiwan's sea and airspace, Taiwan must strengthen its national defense capabilities.
