President renews call for U.S. sale of F-16 C/Ds to Taiwan
ROC Central News Agency
2010/09/23 14:19:18
Taipei, Sept. 23 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated Thursday a call for the United States to sell F-16 C/D fighters to Taiwan and expressed hope for continued bilateral cooperation on security issues.
Ma told visiting U.S. House Representative Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) that the U.S. government has over the past two years announced two arms sales packages worth a total of US$13 billion to Taiwan to help boost the country's self-defense capabilities.
In addition to the approved packages, Taiwan hopes to acquire an additional F-16 C/D fighters from the United States to replace the country's obsolete F-5 fighters, Ma said.
Taiwan has repeatedly asked the U.S. government to approve the sale of 66 F-16 C/Ds. To date, Washington has neither accepted nor rejected the request.
With the fighter's production lines likely to be closed in 2013 and Taiwan's air defenses continuing to decline, members of the U.S. Congress and the Washington-based U.S.-Taiwan Business Council have been urging Washington to move more quickly on the requested sale.
Ma also said he hopes there will soon be an outcome in Taiwan's efforts to push for the signing of an extradition treaty with the United States and the inclusion of Taiwan in the U.S. visa waiver program, despite the many difficulties involved. (By Lee Shu-hua and Y.F. Low) ENDITEM/J
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