US Air Force fighter aircraft F-16 performs aerobatic maneuvers at the Aero India 2023 at Yelahanka air base, in Bangalore, India, Feb. 14, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

A recent report by Voice of America (VOA) disagreed with a Global Times report that called US arms sales to the island of Taiwan outdated and overpriced, and the VOA arguments attempting to justify the US weapons' high prices and technological capabilities were slammed by military experts on Sunday as pale and self-conflicting, as it further verifies the facts that VOA just wanted to contradict.

VOA claimed on Wednesday that a report by the Global Times on August 3 that said "converting the island of Taiwan into a 'porcupine' is a plan that benefits only the US, and selling such amounts of outdated yet overpriced weapons also brings huge profits to the US' military-industrial complex" was false.

On the pricing issue, VOA quoted military experts as saying that the price of the weapons sold to the island of Taiwan "reflects higher US labor costs, as well as US systems' more advanced technology and greater capabilities."

Virtually all US systems are more expensive than comparable systems produced by other countries, including China, the report admitted.

VOA also claimed that the pricing is comprised of subsystems, spare parts, logistical support and training, among other factors that make direct price comparisons difficult.

These self-conflicting arguments essentially admitted the fact that US weapons offered to the island of Taiwan are more expensive, then gave many excuses, a Beijing-based military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday.

Self-exposing the difficulties in direct price comparisons revealed the black box behind the pricing process in US arms sales to the island of Taiwan, as many elements featured in deals were not transparent and were unilaterally imposed by US arms dealers without clear and reasonable explanations to the public, the expert said.

"If VOA really wants to do a fact check, instead of saying price comparisons are difficult, why not publish the actual costs of the weapons and the price offered to the US military?" the above-quoted expert said.

In terms of whether the weapons sold to the island of Taiwan were outdated, VOA alleged that "many of the US weapons sold to Taiwan are quite advanced in terms of both technology and capabilities," listing examples such as the Javelin anti-tank missile, the Stinger man-portable air defense missile, the Harpoon anti-ship missile, the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, the F-16V fighter jet and the M1A2 main battle tank.

While some of these weapons remain in active service in modern warfare, it is a questionable argument to say that they are advanced, Song Zhongping, a Chinese mainland military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Song said these weapons' performances were overstated by the US, and they were only used against less powerful forces and were not proven in high intensity warfare.

Compared to weapons used by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), these US weapons suffer from a generational gap, which makes them outdated, Song said.

The PLA operates new-generation weapons and equipment including the J-20 stealth fighter jets, the Type 055 large destroyers, the DF-17 hypersonic missiles and the PHL-191 modularized multiple rocket launcher systems, which are generations more advanced than weapons the US offered to the island of Taiwan.

In an attempt to shift blame to the island of Taiwan, VOA also admitted that some of the island of Taiwan's systems are indeed outdated because the island "tends to hold onto systems for a long time."

However, many of the weapons the US has sold to the island of Taiwan have yet to be delivered, according to media reports.

The VOA report first admitted that US weapons are more expensive than comparable weapons used by the PLA, then failed to mention that the currently commissioned PLA weapons are more advanced than their US counterparts that are provided to the island of Taiwan. The VOA report is not persuasive at all in rebutting the report by the Global Times, analysts said. 

VOA also said the latest $345 million in military aid to the island of Taiwan is part of a drawdown from existing US weapons stocks, meaning the island is essentially getting the weapons for free. 

It would also mean that these weapons will be second-hand.

In every sense, the US gains the biggest profit in arms sales and military aid to the island of Taiwan, as arms dealers earned money and politicians played their "Taiwan card" in attempt to contain China, while the island is being built into a powder keg and people on the island treated as cannon fodder by the US, observers said.