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Washington urged not to delay arms sales to Taiwan

ROC Central News Agency

2008-06-12 17:07:03

    Washington, June 11 (CNA) The U.S.-Taiwan Business Council urged the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday not to further delay the sale of an arms package that it promised Taiwan in 2001 or reject Taiwan's request to purchase additional F-16 aircraft.

    The council was referring to a situation in which the Bush administration is sitting on eight arms sales notifications related to the package, which are ready for informal review by Congress, and continues to reject a Letter of Request (LOR) from Taiwan for 66 F-16 C/D fighters. "Investing political equity today in Congressional Notification, as well as accepting the LOR for F-16s, is in the long-term interests of both America and Taiwan. Delay only makes matters worse, " Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the council, said in a written statement.

    Hammond-Chambers predicted that if the Bush administration does not make a move now, pressure from China will make hard decisions even harder early in a new U.S. government that will be formed in January 2009.

    Also, if the Letters of Offer and Acceptance for the eight notifications are not signed by the end of this year, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense will have to budget all the items again, leading to the possibility that some of the programs will be dropped or altered, Hammond-Chambers said.

    He pointed out that the United States has an obligation under the Taiwan Relations Act and a core strategic interest in seeing Taiwan engage China from a position of strength. "The notion that we should reduce or retard Taiwan military modernization at this time only emboldens those who seek coercion and intimidation to resolve cross-strait differences," he said.

    Expressing disapproval over what he called the Bush administration "blatantly manipulating the arms sales process, " he said the matter "leaves a legacy sure to bolster those who reflexively oppose this aspect of the Taiwan Relations Act."

    The package of arms offered by the Bush administration to Taiwan in 2001 consisted of six Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile batteries, eight diesel-fueled submarines and a squadron of 12 anti-submarine aircraft.

    The procurement was delayed for years owing to differences between ruling and opposition parties in Taiwan, and the funding for the arms was only passed by the Legislative Yuan in 2007.

    Taiwan has also requested to purchase F-16 C/D fighters from the United States.

    However, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said last month "there are no plans to offer the F-16s to Taiwan at present" because Taiwan is in the middle of a political transition and the U.S. government will have to "await developments there."

(By Michelle Tsai and Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM /pc