China opposes US hint at arming Taiwan
- Source: Global Times
- [02:25 November 26 2009]
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China voiced its strong dissatisfaction Wednesday against US arms sales to Taiwan.Photo:Xinhua
By Song Shengxia
China voiced its strong dissatisfaction Wednesday against US arms sales to Taiwan after a senior US official said Tuesday that there would be additional arm sales to the island under the Barack Obama administration.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Yang Yi, spokesman of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, said China's stance on arms sales to Taiwan is consistent, clear and resolute.
"China firmly opposes US arms sales to Taiwan," he said.
The statements come after Raymond Burghardt, chairman at the American Institute in Taiwan, said during a meeting with Taiwan media Tuesday that US arms sales to the island would continue during the present US administration, the Taiwan-based Central News Agency (CAN) reported.
"No-one has ever rejected the idea of selling F-16s to Taiwan, nor has there ever been a formal decision that yes, we will do so. So we will see," Burghardt was quoted by the CAN as saying.
He suggested that the items that US arms package to Taiwan are still under evaluation and consideration by the US government.
Burghardt's remarks could be interpreted as a tentative suggestion designed to resume US-Taiwan arms sales negotiations, Sun Zhe, a professor at the Institute for International Studies at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times Wednesday.
"Future US arms sales to Taiwan under the Obama administration are actually a continuance of the (George W.) Bush administration's unfinished billions of dollars of arms sales to the island," he said.
In October 2008, the US Defense Department approved a $6.46 billion arms package to Taiwan, which excluded F-16 C/Ds, diesel-electric submarines and other advanced arms.
However, in 2006, the US government formally agreed to sell 66 F-16 C/Ds worth NT$120 billion ($3.7 billion) but suspended the sales due to pressure from the Chinese government, including vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission Xu Caihou dropping his plan to visit the US in 2008, to protest the US decision.
