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US senators concerned by arms freeze

Fourteen US senators have written to US President George W. Bush to express their concerns about reports of a possible freeze on all arms sales to Taiwan.

Noting that the US government is legally bound under the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) to provide Taiwan with the “defense articles and services that enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability,” the senators said any freeze on arms sales would violate the spirit of the TRA.

The June 30 letter was signed by Republican James Inhofe and Democrat Tim Johnson, co-chairs of the Senate Taiwan Caucus, and 12 of their colleagues.

The Bush administration is reportedly sitting on congressional notifications related to a number of weapons systems requested by Taiwan, including sea-launched Harpoon missiles, Patriot PAC-3 missile batteries, 30 Apache helicopters and 66 F-16 fighter aircraft.

The senators said they have made attempts to clarify the status of these requests, but to no avail.

“We request a briefing on the status of these sales from all appropriate agencies, and urge the administration to expeditiously execute consideration of these requests,” the senators wrote.

The senators said the military and strategic imperatives for Taiwan are “real and urgent,” adding that according to Pentagon estimates, Beijing’s total defense spending for last year could be as high as US$139 billion —- more than triple the amount publicized by China.

“Taiwan has a right to be ‘secure,’ and that can only be guaranteed by an unambiguous and non-negotiable commitment from the United States to provide Taiwan with weapons systems consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act,” they said.

The Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) — an overseas Taiwanese group — urged the Bush administration on Monday to process the arms sales to Taiwan as soon as possible.

FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) said the US should help Taiwan preserve its democracy and freedom, and delaying arms sales would undermine Taiwan’s ability to protect its sovereignty and reduce its bargaining chips in negotiating with China.

Meanwhile, the latest edition of Defense News reports that any attempts by Taipei to get arms sales back up and running could fall afoul of Beijing’s increasingly deft tactics and its growing clout in Washington.

China has become an expert at using excuses to slow sales to Taiwan, the magazine quoted retired US Admiral Dennis Blair, a former commander of the US Pacific Command, as saying.

“Bush is [going] to China for the Olympics, there is an APEC summit here, there is a conference there, and pretty soon they’ll have the whole calendar blocked out,” the magazine cited Blair as saying.

“It’s ‘never a good time’ to approve these arms sales,” he said.

“China’s increasingly skillful charm-offensive tactics has put Taiwan in a difficult position in conducting diplomacy in Washington,” Alexander Huang (黃介正), an associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in the weekly.
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