Summary and Key Points: China is angrily protesting Taiwan’s purchase of advanced F-16 Block 70/72 fighters from the U.S., claiming the sale violates diplomatic agreements.
-Beijing asserts the jets cannot alter the cross-strait military balance, yet experts disagree. Taiwan’s new fighters, equipped with advanced AESA radar and modern avionics, surpass most Chinese aircraft, significantly boosting the island’s air-defense capabilities.
A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon flies over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Oct. 14, 2020. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multirole fighter aircraft that has proven itself in both air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Duncan C. Bevan)
-Senior U.S. commanders describe China’s frequent military exercises around Taiwan as rehearsals for potential invasion.
-Despite China’s objections, Taiwan’s acquisition of these powerful jets—now making it Southeast Asia’s largest F-16 operator—demonstrates determination to bolster its defenses amid escalating regional tensions with Beijing.
Those 4 Words China Fears the F-16
Predictably, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing has protested the sale of the latest version of the F-16 fighter aircraft to the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan.
At a press briefing at the Chinese Defense Ministry on Wednesday, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for the Chinese Defense Ministry, said the sale of US fighter aircraft to Taiwan cannot alter the balance of military strength across the Taiwan Strait, “much less impede China’s reunification.”
He called the F-16 and other arms sales to the ROC “double-standard acts” that have allegedly breached the “understandings” of three China-US joint communiqués. Beijing claims that in those interactions, Washington recognized the PRC as the sole legal Chinese government and “acknowledged” Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China.
The island nation, which Beijing continues to insist belongs to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), has been under constant harassment by the PLA Air Force and Navy (PLAAF/PLAN) for years now.
Most recently, this harassment took the form of a two-day military exercise in which naval vessels and combat aircraft encircled the island in greater numbers than in almost any other previous incident. Given the tensions in the Taiwan Strait, “it is understandable that the ROC has procured these aircraft,” said a recently retired US defense industry executive who had a role in structuring the sale to the ROC.
“The CCP now see that there is a window of opportunity when they can make good on their threat to take the island under control of the mainland by force,” said the executive. “The US is occupied with so many other international entanglements that there is not a good deal of bandwidth for Washington to handle Beijing trying to take over Taiwan.”
The Chinese leadership has been raising pressure on the ROC for months now. These actions have reached a level where senior US military officials no longer believe that the actions taken against Taipei are just exercises with no concrete objectives in the near term.
In February, Admiral Samuel Paparo, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, stated these increasingly aggressive movements of PLAN ships and PLAAF aircraft are “not exercises, they are rehearsals” for forced reunification of the island with the communist Mainland.
Dishonest Objections
Retired US military personnel, including senior military intelligence officers who monitored PRC military and diplomatic actions while on active duty, describe Beijing’s objections as “disingenuous, if not completely dishonest.”
“Beijing has known of this sale to the ROC for years now,” said one former intelligence officer. “The initial sale was signed for in 2019 with Taiwan’s defense ministry for US $8 billion,” he stated. “So, the Communist Party picks this moment now to suddenly cry ‘foul’—why is that? The only reasons they are doing this now are, one, the first of these aircraft ordered six years ago was just rolled out of the F-16 production site in South Carolina last month.
“Two, if you add these aircraft to the 139 F-16s already in the ROCAF fleet it makes Taiwan the largest F-16 operator in Southeast Asia.” Once all these aircraft are delivered, the island nation will have 205 in inventory.
The F-16 Block 70/72 is the most advanced production model, and it is newly built, as opposed to the F-16V, which is an existing aircraft upgraded to the same configuration. To date, six countries have selected the F-16V Block 70/72, and Lockheed Martin has a production backlog of more than 100 of these jets.
Advanced Technology of F-16 Fighter
Beijing also has an unspoken complaint about the F-16V’s advanced technology, which puts it in a different class of aircraft from the previous models acquired for the ROCAF. The AN/APG-83 Active Electronically Scanning Array (AESA) radar set is among the next-generation systems that are part of the aircraft’s configuration.
Most of the other F-16s already in the fleet will receive upgrades that include this same AESA radar, a complement of other upgraded onboard systems, and a brand-new cockpit with larger, moving-map displays. Once the entire ROCAF F-16 fleet is equipped with these current-day systems, it will have a significant advantage over the aircraft launched at the island by the PLAAF.
Most copies of the Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30 models that the PLAAF and the Su-35s operate are equipped with passive array (PESA) radar sets and avionics that these new F-16 versions would outclass.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
