Adm. Willard testifies on China's advanced fighters, Taiwan’s F-16s

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[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said last week that Taiwan's air forces will eventually need upgrading but he would not say whether he would recommend the White House approve sales of new F-16s to the island, as the Taipei government has requested. Adm. Robert Willard told reporters in Washington March 25 that the discussions within the Obama administration has taken place by what he called a “whole-of-government process” evaluating the need in line with the 1972 Taiwan Relations Act.

“Pacific Command's responsibility is to make recommendations to [Defense] Secretary [Robert] Gates with regard to their defense needs broadly, not as it relates to any particular unit-level request, but broadly what is required for Taiwan to have a self-defense capability,” Willard said. “And then it becomes an intergovernmental process, ultimately to be decided on by the president and by our Congress. So we have an input, but we're not at all the decider.”

“Unquestionably, some day the fighter aircraft in Taiwan will have to be recapitalized, and I think that's what Taiwan has been interested in with regard to their request for a replacement fighter,” he said.

Taiwan has sought new F-16s to replace its aging fighter aircraft, some of which have caused the death of pilots through training accidents. The Bush administration did not and, so far, the Obama administration has not approved the F-16s sales in part to avoid upsetting China, which already cut off military exchanges twice, once in 2008 and again this year, over the sales.

The F-16 denial continues while China’s air forces are increasing in power.

Adm. Willard stated in Senate testimony a day later that China is continuing to deploy a growing number of sophisticated multi-role fighter aircraft, including the SU-27 and SU-30 jets purchased from Russia and indigenously produced 4th