What Happened: The United States will decide in July whether to sell upgraded F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, according to Taiwanese Defense Minister Yen De-fa, Focus Taiwan reported April 10.
Why It Matters: The announcement provides a preliminary timeline for Washington’s decision whether to sell the upgraded fighter jets after Taipei filed its official letter of request in February, giving the U.S. Congress 150 days to reach a decision.
Background: The Trump administration has reportedly already tacitly approved the arms deal, although it would have to go through the U.S. Defense Department and the State Department to become a formal request that the U.S. Congress could agree to.
Under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), Congress must be formally notified 30 calendar days before the Administration can take the final steps to conclude a government-to-government foreign military sale of:
major defense equipment valued at $14 million or more,
defense articles or services valued at $50 million or more,
or design and construction services valued at $200 million or more.
The sale goes thru unless Congress passes legislation prohibiting or modifying the proposed sale. Under current law Congress must overcome two fundamental obstacles to block or modify a Presidential sale of military equipment:
it must pass legislation expressing its will on the sale,
and it must be capable of overriding a presumptive Presidential veto of such legislation.
Congress, however, is free to pass legislation to block or modify an arms sale at any time up to the point of delivery of the items involved.
It will be approved. ROC pilots fly weapons free as a deterrent to mainland aggression. Mainland does not want a charred island with charred factories and charred people. So having a viable ROC Air Force means Mainland would have to use serious force to take the island. They could easily do that but - as I mentioned above - won’t like the consequences.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province and is currently building an amphibious force that could give it the capacity to launch an invasion of the island.