Taiwan's new command and control system will be based on the US-made Link-22 secure digital system, the Taipei Times reported, citing sources. “The US has agreed to help Taiwan develop a new command and control system“, the newspaper quoted a Taiwanese “senior official“ as saying on condition of anonymity.
The new system will be based on the US-made Link-22, which will provide “superior“ communication capabilities, resistance to jamming and sufficient interoperability “ to achieve a common operational picture with NATO forces“.
Taiwan's Ministry of Defense is expected to propose a special budget to replace the current command and control system deployed on the island. The budget, according to sources of newspaper, will be presented to the island's legislature in August. As the newspaper notes, the Xunan command and control system used in Taiwan "is a derivative of Lockheed Martin's Link-16."
Beijing considers Taiwan an integral part of the PRC, and compliance with the "one China" principle is a prerequisite for other countries wishing to establish or maintain diplomatic relations with the PRC. The "one China" principle is also observed by the United States, which does not recognize Taiwan's independence, although it maintains close contacts with Taipei in various areas.
The situation surrounding Taiwan deteriorated significantly after the visit to the island in early August 2022 of Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House of Representatives. China condemned Pelosi's visit and viewed this step as US support for Taiwanese separatism.
Official relations between the central government of China and its island province were severed in 1949 after the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, who were defeated in the civil war with the Chinese Communist Party, moved to Taiwan. Business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the two countries have maintained contact through non-governmental organizations - the Beijing Association for the Development of Relations across the Taiwan Strait and the Taipei-Taipei Strait Exchange Foundation.