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U.S. law governing Taiwan arms sale hard to change, official says

ROC Central News Agency

2011/05/19 22:33:52

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) Most members of the U.S. Congress support the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) -- the U.S. law that obliges Washington to sell defensive weapons to Taiwan -- and it would not be easy for China to alter the status quo in this regard, Deputy Foreign Minister Thomas Hou said Thursday.

Hou said at a Legislative Yuan Finance Committee hearing that some U.S. senators and representatives have different perspectives on the TRA, but as far as he knows, most members of Congress support the law.

"The Foreign Ministry is confident that it would not be easy for China to lobby the U.S. Congress to alter the TRA," Hou said.

He was referring to statements made by Chen Bingde, chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), in Washington a day earlier, which were apparently aimed at dissuading the U.S. from selling more weapons to Taiwan.

The top Chinese general has also made contact with various U.S. lawmakers to explore the possibility of Congress reviewing the law.

Ruling Kuomintang Legislator Lin Yu-fang said the Foreign Ministry should make known the government's stance on the issue to ease concerns among the public.

In related news, Defense Ministry spokesman Lo Shao-ho said later in the day that Washington has said it will not alter its existing policy on arms sales to Taiwan because of closer military exchanges with China.

In addition, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun said at a news conference that so far there has been no indication that Washington will change its policy on selling defensive weapons to Taiwan under the TRA, signed in 1979, and the Six Assurances that Washington gave Taiwan in 1982.

On Chen's statements in Washington that "China has only garrison deployment across from Taiwan and there are no ballistic missiles deployed there," Liu said that "that is what China says."

"They (the Chinese) tell different stories, but there is only one truth," Liu said.

"We must reiterate that only when Taiwan has sufficient self-defense capabilities can we push for progress in cross-strait relations with a sense of security and confidence, " he added. (By Justin Su, Hsieh Chia-chen, Charles Kang and Deborah Kuo) ENDITEM/J