Arms sales find support in US capitol

A bipartisan letter has been endorsed by members of both the US House of Representatives and Senate urging US President George W. Bush to sell AEGIS-equipped destroyers, P-3 anti-submarine aircraft and diesel-powered submarines to Taiwan in April this year.

Taiwan supporters on Capitol Hill decided to send a strong message to both Bush and leaders in Beijing prior to a March visit by Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛), who plans to address his nation's concerns regarding arms sales to Taiwan.

The letter was drafted last month by Senator Jesse Helms, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senator Robert Torricelli, both of whom are long-time supporters of Taiwan.

The letter was signed by Senate majority leader Trent Lott and Senators Jon Kyl and Frank Murkowski. Congressional aids said that delivery of the letter has been put on hold while they collect additional signatures.

In the House, Representative David Wu (吳振偉) and Representative Chris Cox are working on a similarly worded letter advocating the sale of AEGIS-equipped destroyers and other advanced weapons to Taiwan.

Both said they are anticipating positive responses from their congressional colleagues.

Before last year's US-Taiwan arms sales talks, Senators Lott and Murkowski sent a jointly-written letter to then-president Bill Clinton arguing that "US obligations require the administration to act promptly on Taiwan's pending request for appropriate weapons systems, particularly defensive land and sea-based early warning systems."

Though some lawmakers maintain that they should be patient and allow the new administration to get on the right track, Helms said in a speech on Friday that the "damage" done by the eight years of the Clinton administration was enormous and that the Bush administration must compensate for and reverse the decline of Taiwan's defense capabilities.

Helms' aide, Jim Doran, who helped draft the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act (TSEA), will arrive in Taipei tomorrow to tour military installations and meet with military leaders on security issues.

Besides arms sales to Taiwan, Helms said that TSEA, which Bush endorsed during his campaign, would be one of his top priorities during his two-year term.

The Senate has not made any progress thus far on the security enhancement act.

Roger Hsieh (謝聰敏), Taiwan's national policy adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), was in Washington two weeks ago to tell delegates from Washington lobbying firm Cassidy and Associates that the Taiwan government wanted to see the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act moving forward.

Cassidy signed a contract with Makoto Bank to lobby Washington lawmakers on behalf of the TSEA.

Bush administration officials declined to say whether Taiwan would get the AEGIS-class destroyers. One official familiar with Taiwan issues said that the Bush administration was more willing to help Taiwan enhance its military capacity, but would adhere to the "one China" policy.