Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Through an apparent "slip of the tongue" last week, President Ma Ying-jeou sent a message to the world that his right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government does not consider Taiwan to be a "state."

During a meeting last Wednesday with U.S Representative James Sensenbrenner Jr, Ma was quoted in a news release issued by the Office of the President as stating that "this year we will sign with the China mainland a 'cross-strait economic framework agreement' which we hope will institutionalize the over NT$100 billion in trade between the two countries."

If anyone had doubts about Taiwan’s ability to defend itself, a report released by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) recently is sure to turn those into nightmares.

The agency’s assessment painted a bleak portrait of Taiwan’s Air Force, with quasi-obsolete Mirage 2000s and F-5s likely to be mothballed, while the aging fleet of F-16s and Indigenous Defense Fighters are in dire need of refurbishing. In fact, even if those models were upgraded, their limited capabilities put into question Taiwan’s ability to achieve air superiority against the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), which in recent years has rapidly transformed and modernized — thanks largely to sales and technology transfers from Russia.