Taiwan’s air force received on June 30 the first six upgraded F-CK-1 A/B Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDF) in a ceremony presided over by President Ma Ying-jeou at the state-run Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News. Read More →
The US have again blocked a US$ 8.7 bn Taiwanese order for F-16’s, writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News. The move to please China, might cost the US up to annual 16,000 jobs, according to Lockheed Martin.Read More →
Five hundred mainland Chinese per day can visit Taiwan from July 1 as tourist, but defense expert Wendell Minnick tells Asia Sentinel he does not expect an increase in spying activities. Much of the real spying is done with other means.Read More →
Strong rumors – denied by the government – suggest Taiwan is planning to defer payments for US weapon systems to the US, writes the Asia Sentinel. Defense expert Wendell Minnick suggests that would give the Obama administration a good argument to back out of already closed weapon deals.Read More →
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou urged the U.S. to release F-16 fighters and submarines during a speech May 12 at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News.Read More →
As growing crowds of mainland Chinese visit Taiwan, curious to see how pre-revolutionary China could have looked like, the island could capture a major share of the luxury good purchases, says Shaun Rein in CNBC. Sixty percent of those goods are bought now in Hong Kong or Europe. Shaun Rein isRead More →
Wendell Minnick The high-profile Taiwanese spy general Lo keeps on rocking the military establishment. In the Wall Street Journal Wendell Minnick gives his take on the largest spy case in 50 years in Taiwan. The Wall Street Journal: Wendell Minnick, the Asia bureau chief of Defense News, an independent defenseRead More →
Ministry of Defense, Taipei via Wikipedia Taiwan is still trying to assess the amount of damage caused by one of the largest espionage case, after the late-January arrest of General Lo Hsien-che, who ran the communications, electronics and information division of Army Command Headquarters, writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News. TheRead More →
No message for them by rebuildingdemocracy Taiwan test-fired eleven types of missiles last Tuesday, but denies any link with China’s Hu Jintao’s state visit to the US, writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News. Taiwan test-fired missiles of 11 different types during an exercise on Jan. 18 at the Jiupeng MissileRead More →
The wrong helicopter via Wikipedia Taiwan’s decision to purchase 31 AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters for US$ 2.5 bn in stead of Cobras is blasted in an article in Atimes, as it does not fit any of the island’s defense strategies. Defense expert Wendell Minnick explains why the decision isRead More →
Wendell Minnickvia Flickr Two high-profile arrests in Taiwan show that China has thoroughly infiltrated Taiwan’s Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB), writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News. Col. Lo Chi-cheng of the MIB and Taiwanese businessman Lo Pin are accused of supplying Beijing with the identities of MIB agents working in China.Read More →
Image via Wikipedia Although Taiwan’s military have problems in making ends meet, and have even deferred advanced US weapon systems, the island’s Marines want to push ahead with the purchase of new vehicles, writes Wendell Minnick in Defense News. Taiwan’s Marine Corps is pushing for more money to replace itsRead More →