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U.S. will make decision on F-16 sales by Oct. 1: Mullen

ROC Central News Agency

2011/07/26 12:44:23

By Chou Yung-chieh and Deborah Kuo

Washington, July 25 (CNA) The United States is expected to make a decision on F-16 jet fighter sales to Taiwan by Oct. 1, the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Armed Forces reiterated Monday.

"It's a decision that I have confidence, based on what Secretary Clinton is saying, that will be made by 1 October," said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, in answer to a Taiwanese reporter's question at a briefing on U.S. national security strategy.

"It's really a decision that is for the president of the United States to make and certainly announce, so I would not preview that, even if I knew what the president were going to do," he said.

Mullen added that the issue was not just of great interest to the United States but also China and acknowledged resistance from Beijing against arms sales to Taiwan.

"Clearly, the Chinese would strongly prefer us to stop doing this," he said, but also stressed that the desire to improve military ties with China would not dominate U.S. decisions.

"As important as developing this military relationship with China is to our interests, we cannot let it dominate our thinking, planning, and force posture decisions," he said.

On a Taiwanese media report that Chinese fighter jets repelled a U.S. aircraft over the Taiwan Strait last month -- the first encounter between U.S. and Chinese fighter jets since 2001 -- Mullen said it was an international issue and would not deter the U.S. from remaining active in the region.

"This is international airspace, in this case, and we won't be deterred from flying in international airspace," he said.

"The Chinese would see us move out of there; I don't see that as the case. We're not going to do that from my perspective. These reconnaissance flights are important.....We have to make sure that we don't repeat what happened in 2001," Mullen said.

On the South China Sea issue, he also quoted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as having said during an ASEAN Forum and her recent visit to the region that the issue needs to be resolved peacefully.

"We certainly support peaceful resolution. We don't take a position on any of the issues between two countries," he said.

"We have an enduring security commitment in the Pacific we plan to deepen, but so too would we like to see others deepen their cooperation with their neighbors."