On this romantic day, it is the day of the change of leadership in the Taiwan region. According to Taiwan media reports, due to the previous tension in cross-strait relations, Taiwan's "Coast Guard" has dispatched a large number of coast guard personnel to patrol Kinmen, Matsu, and other places since 18 July, so as to ensure that Lai Qingde can smoothly take up his post.
Because Lai Ching-te had repeatedly expressed his attitude and stance of "Taiwan independence" to the outside world before, Taiwan's defense department reported: "From 6 a.m. on the 19th to 6 a.m. on the 20th, a total of 66 PLA military planes and seven warships operated around the Taiwan Strait, and six of them crossed the so-called 'center line of the Taiwan Strait.'" ”
In addition, China's Ministry of Commerce also issued two announcements on May 20, announcing that three U.S. companies involved in arms sales to Taiwan were included in the "Unreliable Entity" list, and that another U.S. company transferred goods purchased from China to the "Unreliable Entities" list.
The three companies are Boeing Defense, Space & Security Group, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, and Power Land Systems. The term "unreliable entity" refers to a prohibition on China-related import and export activities, and a prohibition on new investment in China. In addition, executives of "unreliable entities" and their family members are also barred from entering China.
On February 16, 2023, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Missiles and Defense were also included in the list of "unreliable entities".
"Caprag needs to take measures as soon as possible to ensure that the relevant goods, technologies and services purchased from China are not transferred to companies on the 'Unreliable Entity' list, otherwise China will take countermeasures against it in accordance with the law," the Chinese side said. ”
Boeing Defense
In February, Biden approved a plan to sell tactical data link system upgrades to the Taiwan military for a total value of $75 million, which is already the 13th arms sale to Taiwan since Biden took office.
In April, Biden signed a foreign aid bill totaling $95 billion, of which $1.9 billion is used to improve Taiwan's defense capabilities, in addition to the two "gold-swallowing beasts" of Ukraine and Israel.
After Biden signed the foreign aid bill, a group of Taiwanese politicians, including Tsai Ing-wen, cheered, as if with the $1.9 billion, the Taiwanese military could sit back and relax in the face of the PLA.
Is this really the case? We might as well refer to the situation of US arms sales to Taiwan in recent years. Taking the Biden administration's sixth arms sales to the Taiwan military in 2022 as an example, the total amount involved at that time reached 1.16 billion US dollars, mainly including 60 "Harpoon" anti-ship missiles, 100 "Sidewinder" tactical air-to-air missiles and supporting radar surveillance systems.
In fact, the unit price of the "Harpoon" anti-ship missile is $1 million, and the unit price of the "Sidewinder" air-to-air missile is $500,000, which means that the total price of these missiles is $110 million, and even if the radar monitoring system is added, the price will not exceed $1.16 billion.
The price list given by the US Congress is very unreasonable, with the price quoted for the "Harpoon" anti-ship missile being 355 million yuan and the "Sidewinder" air-to-air missile being quoted at 857 million yuan. From this, it is not difficult for us to see that the United States is still strong in its ability to cheat its allies for money, and it completely regards Taiwan as a "big injustice".
Moreover, these two missiles have long been outdated, take the "Sidewinder" air-to-air missile as an example, the purpose of the United States selling it to the Taiwan military is to improve the combat effectiveness of the F-16, may I ask what era of fighter is the F-16? The PLA is not the Russian army, and the models currently equipped by the Taiwan army in the 70s of the last century cannot form a deterrent to the PLA.
In addition to the above two missiles, the "China Times" disclosed last year that the United States will sell 108 M1A2T main battle tanks to Taiwan, and the first batch of 38 will be delivered this year. Many Taiwanese media boast that the M1A2T is the "strongest tank on the surface", with performance far exceeding that of the 99A.
It can be seen from the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield that the American M1 series main battle tanks have nothing to show for themselves, and their wreckage is still on display in Moscow. Putting aside whether it performs better than the 99A for the time being, even if it is really the "strongest tank on the surface", what is the use of the Taiwanese army buying it back? Is it really a small island to count on a tank decisive battle with the PLA?
Therefore, Taiwan's purchase of high-priced and useless weapons from the United States is not for the purpose of improving the island's defense, but more for political purposes, and it can also be understood as paying "protection money" to the United States.
The three US companies included in the sanctions list do not have the ability to ignore their military scientific research capabilities, but their cutting-edge technology has not been handed over to Taiwan. China's sanctions are actually a warning to the United States not to meddle in its internal affairs and to abide by its one-China commitment.