Jiang adds his warning to US on weapons sales

Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) has said that China will respond to US arms sales to Taiwan by beefing up its military and warned that providing Taiwan with a high-tech radar system would be "very detrimental" to China-US ties.

In an interview on Friday with the Washington Post, Jiang also answered US criticism over the holding of a scholar accused of harming its national security.

Gao Zhan (高瞻), her husband and their 5-year-old American son Andrew were detained Feb. 11 at Beijing's airport and each whisked away in separate cars. The father and boy were reunited and released after 26 days. But Gao, a China-born researcher at Washington's American University, remains in custody.

Jiang said he did not know the people involved but added "they must have violated the law to a certain extent" if they were detained.

On Taiwan, Jiang said that if not for US interference "we would have been able to resolve the question and liberate Taiwan."

As Washington mulls Taiwan's latest annual request for weaponry, Jiang said Beijing "absolutely" opposes sales of advanced US armaments to the country. "The more weapons you sell, the more we will prepare ourselves in terms of our national defense," Jiang said. "If the US were to sell advanced weapons to Taiwan such as the AEGIS system, that would be very detrimental to China-US relations.''

On a personal note, the 74-year-old president, head of the ruling Communist Party and chairman of the commission that controls China's army gave no indication of retirement plans. Jiang said the party would decide his future at a five-yearly congress to be held next year.