TAINAN COUNTY, Taiwan — Taiwan’s equipment-challenged air force has demonstrated its improvisational skills, landing six war planes on a normally busy highway to simulate a response to a Chinese attack on its air fields.
Tuesday’s exercise comes amid persistent warnings that Taiwan’s air force is losing its qualitative edge because of U.S. reluctance to supply it with modern warplanes and avionics.
Taiwan has asked the U.S. to provide it with relatively advanced F-16 fighters and to upgrade its existing F-16 fleet to help close the gap.
But Washington has so far failed to respond, fearing that any F-16 deal could muddy the waters with China, an increasingly important political and economic partner for the U.S.
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