By Shannon Tiezzi
Since the 1990s, the U.S.has consistently prioritized its relationship with China over selling F-16s or F-35s to Taiwan.
Kent Wang, in an article for The Diplomat, argues that the U.S. should sell F-35 fighters to Taiwan. Wang writes that Taiwan’s air defense capabilities are slipping, and that the possibility of China purchasing Su-35s from Russia makes it even more necessary for the U.S. to provide advanced fighters to Taiwan. This strain of thought, based on military calculations, certainly exists (and has long existed) within the Pentagon. However, the possibility of such a sale happening is very, very small.
No president since George H.W. Bush has approved the sale of advanced fighter jets to Taiwan, and even that approval came under very specific circumstances. When Bush approved the sale of 150 F-16 A/B fighters to Taiwan, it was almost entirely a ploy to increase his domestic approval ratings ahead of the 1992 presidential election. Bush had faced severe criticism over his handling of U.S.-China relations in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square violence in 1989. Selling advanced fighters to Taiwan was a way of contradicting Bill Clinton’s accusations that Bush was coddling “the butchers of Beijing.” Further, as James Mann argued in his book About Face, the sale of F-16 A/B fighters was also immensely profitable for General Dynamics (the F-16 manufacturer), and created nearly 6,000 new jobs during an economic downturn. In other words, the last sale of U.S. fighters to Taiwan was dictated by a unique confluence of U.S. domestic politics — a scenario unlikely to be repeated.
Read the full story at The Diplomat