Visit of Taiwan Chief of General Staff

A highlight of this week’s Next Magazine is/was the visit of ROC Chief of General Staff (CGS) Admiral Lin Chen-i (林鎮夷) to the United States. Nadia Tsao from Liberty Times picked it up as well.

The reporting notes that ADM Lin’s main goals are/were to persuade the Obama administration to release F-16 C/D fighters, explore bilateral industrial cooperation and assembly of diesel electric submarines in Taiwan, and gain U.S. approval for the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) to take the lead for the second stage of the POSHENG C4ISR system. The POSHENG follow-on is referred to as the “AN-SHUN program” (安訊專案). The report notes concerns regarding Taiwan’s inability to develop a viable C4ISR system without U.S. support.

If reporting is accurate, the visit would have coincided with the HANGUANG 25 exercise in Taiwan and preceded the U.S. visit of PRC State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi. Taiwan media reporting has highlighted that the HANKUANG 25 exercise includes a continuity of government scenario as well as a U.S. observer team headed by a retired U.S. admiral.

The last CGS to visit the U.S. (July 13-21, 2007) was Gen Huoh Shou-yueh.

Taiwan and China's Commercial Aviation Program

AP and Forbes reported today that Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) is seeking a deal with the China Commercial Aviation Corporation (COMAC):

Taiwanese defense company seeks China deal

Associated Press, 06.22.09, 05:34 AM EDT

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's state-owned defense company said Monday it is discussing cooperation on building commercial aircraft with a Chinese company.
Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation spokesman Li Shih-chang said his company met with China's state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation during a Shanghai air show in May, but the sides have yet to reach a deal. News of the talks comes amid steadily improving ties between Taiwan and the mainland. AIDC made Taiwan's Indigenous Defense Fighter jets, and is now responsible for IDF maintenance.

Defense News’ Wendell Minnick first reported on AIDC’s interest in serving as a COMAC supplier last summer.

This latest reporting should be put into the proper context. State-owned or not, AIDC has to be profitable in order to survive. With the fixation on defense procurement through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) channels, AIDC probably isn’t seeing a lot of growth on its radar scope. It’s not clear yet what Boeing has worked out to satisfy its offset requirement for the APACHE program. If and when the Congressional notification for UH-60 BLACKHAWK utility helicopters goes through, Sikorsky likely will also have a significant offset obligation as well. However, history has shown that most companies incurring offset obligations in Taiwan satisfy them via indirect means. In other words, it's unclear at this point if AIDC would see much offset business from the APACHE and BLACKHAWK FMS programs. In addition, recent reporting regarding AIDC's role in a joint Taiwan-Russian very short take off and landing (VSTOL) fighter development program is interesting but open to question.

Like dozens of companies around the world, AIDC has an interest in playing a role in China’s long term, multi-billion dollar program to field a jumbo jet (click here for background, as well as here). Goal is to start flight tests in 2014 and have the first aircraft enter China’s commercial aviation fleet by 2016. With COMAC in the lead, China’s goal is to field a internationally certified commercial airliner. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) opened up an office in Shanghai a couple years ago to assist COMAC and other aviation authorities in the certification process. Over the next 20 years, Chinese airlines are expected to spend U.S. $340 billion on 3,400 new airplanes, of which 1400 are large-sized “jumbo jet” aircraft.

Major U.S. defense companies, such as Boeing, Sikorsky, Lockheed, and Raytheon, have done business in China, with the latter two mostly involved in air traffic control. Other major U.S. defense contractors, such as Rockwell Collins, Honeywell, and General Electric (GE), have been involved in China’s commercial aviation programs. COMAC is said to be in the process of awarding 17-19 supplier contracts. Like AIDC, American and European firms that are involved in both commercial and defense business are competing to play a role in what is probably the fastest growing aviation market in the world.

Taiwan and China Deepen Cooperation in the Aviation Sector

Flightglobal carried an interesting article today regarding another facet of cross-Strait relations. China's aviation administration is looking toward Taiwan to help fill pilot shortages on domestic Chinese airlines. Moving beyond the issue of direct flights between Chinese and Taiwanese cities, the aviation sector appears to be the latest area of cross-Strait cooperation:

China's Shenzhen Airlines to employ 25 Taiwanese pilots

By Leithen Francis

China's Shenzhen Airlines plans to receive 25 Taiwanese pilots as part of a Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) initiative to help China overcome its pilot shortage problem.

A Shenzhen Airlines spokeswoman in Shenzhen says the CAAC has allocated Shenzhen Airlines 25 Taiwanese pilots.

She says the CAAC is recruiting 80 Taiwanese pilots in total and allocating them to different airlines around China.

Another Shenzhen official, who is directly involved in pilot recruitment, confirms to ATI that the carrier is to receive 25 Taiwanese pilots allocated by the CAAC.

He says Shenzhen has about 77 aircraft - a mix of Airbus A320s, Boeing 737s and Embraer 190s - and needs more pilots because it has aircraft on order. CAAC officials in Beijing were unavailable for comment today.

China has recruited Taiwanese pilots before. In late 2005 Sichuan Airlines became the first carrier in China to recruit pilots from Taiwan. Taiwanese pilots are popular because of their Chinese language skills.

Besides lending of pilots, Taiwan's state-owned AIDC is apparently looking to play a role in the multi-billion dollar China's jumbo jet program (see here for an overview published by the Project 2049 Institute). It's worth recalling a famous quote from Madame Chiang Kai-shek, who loved aviation:

Of all the inventions that have helped to unify China perhaps the airplane is the most outstanding. Its ability to annihilate distance has been in direct proportion to its achievements in assisting to annihilate suspicion and misunderstanding among provincial officials far removed from one another or from the officials at the seat of government.