Tracking Number: 242270
Title: "US Aircraft Sale to Taiwan for Defensive Purposes."
White House official Walter Kansteiner says that the recently-announced sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan is for defensive purposes only--to maintain a stable balance of power in the East Asian region. (920909)
Translated Title: Venta aviones EU a Taiwan tiene propositos de defensa. (920909)
Author: MALAMUD, PAUL (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19920909
Text:
U.S. AIRCRAFT SALE TO TAIWAN FOR DEFENSIVE PURPOSES
(Would maintain power balance, Kansteiner says) (390)
By Paul Malamud
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- The Bush White House says that the recently-announced sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan is for defensive purposes only -- to maintain a stable balance of power in the East Asian region.
Walter Kansteiner, White House deputy press secretary for foreign affairs, told international journalists at the U.S. Information Agency's Foreign Press Center September 9 that the sale was "in keeping" with U.S. "foreign policy objectives," which he defined as being "to maintain a balance between Taiwan and Beijing."
The type of F-16 aircraft that is being sold to Taiwan, he made clear, is the A/B type which is a defensive model and is "basically an aircraft that will suffice for defensive purposes."
Asked to explain the background of the F-16 sale, Kansteiner recalled that "the Taiwanese government approached us some months back" about the purchase. But, he added, "They'd been making that request for some eleven or twelve years."
Because of the imbalance "that was taking place between Beijing and Taipei on their national security front," particularly with the recent purchases by Beijing of SU-27's from Russia, the Bush administration "took another look at the possibility of selling F-16's," he explained.
As a result of this policy review, he noted, "the President decided that in fact it (the sale) would be in keeping with our foreign policy objectives."
Kansteiner also commented briefly on other issues: -- Asked whether the United States plans to play a rule in smoothing out the Kuril Islands dispute between Japan and Russia, he explained "This is clearly a bilateral...issue...that Moscow and Tokyo have to work out, and any role that we would play would be strictly peripheral."
-- Asked whether the United States is discriminating against Haitian refugees attempting to migrate by boat into the United States since the overthrow of the Aristide government, Kansteiner noted that "Haitians ...represent either the fourth or fifth largest immigration group in this country, so the number of Haitians that are in this country is quite substantial.... So, obviously, our policies...permit and allow Haitians to enter the United States under the correct immigration guidelines and consular rules and regulations."
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File Identification: 09/09/92, POL304; 09/09/92, EPF310; 09/09/92, EUR313; 09/09/92, NEA311; 09/10/92, LDP402; 09/10/92, LSD406
Product Name: Wireless File
Product Code: WF
Languages: Spanish
Keywords: TAIWAN-US RELATIONS/Policy; TAIWAN/Defense & Military; MILITARY CAPABILITIES; MILITARY TECHNOLOGY; SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS; ARMS TRANSFERS/Policy; MILITARY AIRCRAFT; CHINA-US
RELATIONS; BALANCE OF POWER
Thematic Codes: 1EA
Target Areas: EA; EU; NE; AR
PDQ Text Link: 242270; 242337
USIA Notes: *92090904.POL
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