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Taiwan Aims to Help Foreign Air Forces Fix F-16 Fighter Jets, a Stab at China

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI - A new Taiwanese maintenance center for F-16 fighter jetshopes
   to service the American-made aircraftbelonging tomultiple countries, a
   goal that would outrage China and shake up Asian military diplomacy if
   realized, experts say.

   China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan anddiscouragesthird
   countries from supporting the Taiwanese government, especially on
   defense matters. Chinese officials already resent the United States
   forletting defense contractor Lockheed Martin sell F-16s to Taiwan.

   Officials in Taiwan, where most people told government polls in2019they
   would oppose being ruled by China, want to strengthentheirdefense
   against China's larger armed forces and build ties with other
   governments.

   Taiwanese contractor Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation's
   F-16 maintenance, repairand overhaul center will service adomesticF-16
   fleet while scouting for business "opportunities" from aircraft
   operators offshore.

   The $3.7 billion Lockheed Martin-approved center opened August 28.

   "If we can cooperate with regional countries, I think that would be a
   very important step for Taiwan's indigenous production and indigenous
   maintenance of those airplanes," Taiwan ruling party lawmaker Lo
   Chih-cheng said.

   "We are hoping not just to buy weapons from the States," Lo said. "We
   are also hoping to extend the cooperation with other countries, so
   hopefully there will be some sort of spillover effects."

   Around Asia, Singapore uses 62 F-16 planes, South Korea has 180 and
   Japan operates 76 aircraft made jointly by American and Japanese
   companies based on F-16 technology. Thailand has another 54 and
   Indonesia 33. Taiwan operates 142 with another 66 due for shipment by
   2026. Foreign air forces normally work out maintenance deals directly
   with the contractor.

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