[ If I was Taiwan, I would announce that without the F-16s the only resort was to move forward with a ballistic missile program. ]
In a way that would be dumb becasue then our leadership would see this as an opportunity to cut all ties to Tiawan in the name of “Peace and Social Justice”.
Because we can’t have a democratic republic like Taiwan having ballistic missiles, those are only for Theocracies like Iran or crazy dictatorships like North Korea.
The reason they want the upgraded F-16 in the first place is that they have had a lot of troubles with their Mirage 2000-5s. I know the French would sell them Rafale, but who would run down to the Ford dealership to replace their Pinto?