No change in Taiwan arms sale policy: U.S. State Department
ROC Central News Agency
Washington, July 18 (CNA) The U.S. Department of State reiterated Friday the United States has not changed its policy on arms sales to Taiwan, after recent delays in screening a number of pending weapons sales raised concerns that Washington might have suspended the process.
"The administration faithfully implements the Taiwan Relations Act, under which the United States makes available items necessary for Taiwan to maintain a sufficient defense, " State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said during a daily press briefing.
McCormack stressed the policy "is applicable for all U.S. government agencies, whether it's the Department of Defense, Department of State or any other part of the U.S. government."
He made the statement when asked to comment on remarks made Wednesday by Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, in which Keating indirectly confirmed that the administration of President George W. Bush has placed a freeze on arms sales to Taiwan.
Keating said policy-makers in the administration "reconciled Taiwan's military posture, China's current military posture and strategy that indicates there is no pressing, compelling need for, at the moment, arms sales to Taiwan."
Keating's statement matched what was said a few days before by Tan Chih-lung, the leader of the Republic of China's military delegation posted in the United States.
According to Tan, there are eight congressional notifications of arms sales pending in the Department of State, and it remains uncertain whether the arms procurements can be completed within Bush's term.
The pending items include anti-tank missiles, Apache helicopters, Patriot PAC-3 missile batteries, diesel-powered submarines, P3C anti-submarine aircraft and sea-launched Harpoon missiles, Tan said.
During Friday's press briefing, McCormack declined to comment on specific weapon systems under consideration.
He explained that there is an "internal interagency process" for the U.S. government to consider all military exports, including sales to Taiwan.
"When the interagency process achieves a final decision for specific arms sales, we will notify Congress," he said.
There have been reports that the State Department is holding back on the congressional notifications so as not to upset relations with China ahead of the opening in August in Beijing of the 2008 Olympic Games.
In a joint letter sent June 30 by a group of 14 senators to Bush, the senators said they have made fruitless attempts to clarify the status of the weapon systems requested by Taiwan, and they urged the Bush administration to "expeditiously execute consideration of these requests."
The senators said the military and strategic imperatives for Taiwan are "real and urgent, " pointing out that according to an estimate by the Pentagon, China's total defense spending for 2007 could be as high as US$139 billion -- more than triple the amount publicized by Beijing.
However, in his Wednesday remarks, Keating said the recent improvement in cross-strait relations, marked by a resumption of long-stalled dialogue between Taiwan and China, supports his belief that "it is very, very, very unlikely that there will be conflict across the strait."
Keating stressed the United States will avoid destabilizing the Taiwan Strait while honoring its commitment to help Taiwan maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.
Also Friday, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) -- a Washington-based overseas Taiwanese group -- voiced strong protest at Keating's statement, which the group said was "totally inconsistent with the Pentagon's assessment."
According to FAPA President Bob Yang, freezing arms sales to Taiwan for any reason will send a chilling message to Taiwan and other countries in the region that are concerned about China's continued military buildup. (By Chiehyu Lin and Y.F. Low) ENDITEM/ls
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
