The decision to launch the PDA (Presidential Drawdown Authority) mechanism, which allows for the transfer of weapons directly from US military warehouseswas announced in July last year. The first package consisted of weapons worth $345 million.
According to the American Office of the Inspector General (OIG)which began investigating after irregularities were reported by the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, the shipments included 120 pallets damaged by watercontaining more than three thousand armor plates and 500 tactical vestswhich were “soaked and covered in mold“.
Taiwan: US hands over 'unusable equipment'
The package delivered included six M240B machine guns, packed “loosely in a large cardboard box without any (protective) packaging or cushioning,” the report, released Sept. 11, said.
In addition Taiwan he received 2.7 million pieces of ammunition, some of which were out of date (with a production date of 1983). They were in inconsistent and non-original packagingwhich made it difficult for the Taiwanese military to “accurately manage or inventory” the ammunition.
The OIG found that the U.S. Department of Defense should not have provided Taiwanowi “unfit for use and poorly packaged equipment and ammunition” because “it left a bad impression on the island's army,” writes “SCMP”. It was determined that the pallets were damaged by water at a US military base while they were waiting to be airlifted to Taiwan for more than three months.
“Delivering items (in this condition) makes it difficult (Pentagonowi) achieving the set goals cooperation in the field of security and may lead to loss of trust of partners in United States” – it was written in the report summary.
Faulty Equipment Reaches Taiwan, US Responds
Pentagon admitted that there had been mismanagement and “took action to improve the implementation PDA mechanism” for Taiwan,” ministry spokesman Pete Nguyen told the Taiwanese agency CNA.
Pekin considers the democratically governed island as its territory and warns against any form of “official exchange” between Washington and Taipei. Taiwan rejects demands Chin regarding sovereignty and claims that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future.
The US does not formally recognize Taiwan as an independent state, but opposes it any attempts to take it over by force – which the communist government in Beijing does not rule out – and are obliged to supply it with weapons.