Taiwan ‘ready to move quickly’ to seal deal on F-16 fighter jets from US

Taipei has agreed to buy 66 new Block 70 combat aircraft from Lockheed Martin

Once deal is approved by US Congress Taiwan must submit a ‘letter of offer and acceptance’ that is translated into a signed contract with delivery dates

Reading Time:2 minutes

Taiwan is ready to finalise a deal to buy 66 F-16 fighters from the US, according to officials in Washington. Photo: EPA

Published: 2:15pm, 14 Sep 2019Updated: 11:03pm, 14 Sep 2019

Taiwan has signalled to US officials that it will move swiftly to complete the purchase of 66 new F-16 fighters once congressional foreign relations committees complete their review this month, according to a US State Department official.

The department formally notified Congress on August 20 that it approved the sale, which includes munitions, defensive electronics and a fire-control radar that would allow precision-guided missiles and bombs to be launched from greater distances.

Once the deal is approved by Congress – there has been no sign it will be blocked – Taiwan must submit a “letter of offer and acceptance” that gets translated into a signed contract with delivery dates.

“According to our counterparts in Taiwan and the Taiwan representative’s office” in the US “they anticipate a quick move on their part” to finish the F-16 deal, assistant secretary of state Clarke Cooper said.

“If we are talking about the F-16s [alone] then the indicators are that’s a relatively quick turnaround from Taipei,” he said.

Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, has strongly objected to the sale of the jets built by Lockheed Martin. Hua Chungying, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said last month that if US arms sales were not stopped “the Chinese side will surely make strong reactions, and the US will have to bear all the consequences”.