Wed, Mar 25, 2009 - Page 1 News List

US experts push need for arms sales

‘FORMIDABLE FRIENDS’ One panel member at a Capitol Hill briefing said that not selling weapons to Taiwan hurt President Ma’s position in cross-strait negotiations

By William Lowther  /  STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

“We in the US must decide how serious we are about this situation,” Waldron said. “Are we going to support Ma’s initiatives? Are we going to sell weapons to him so that China will know that he has formidable friends and a formidable military at his disposal? In diplomacy there is nothing like having an aircraft carrier behind you. If you are known to be weak you are not going to do well.”

“If we want to help Ma in something that is very much in our interests — a genuine agreement between Taiwan and China in which neither side loses — we are going to have to give him something to work with,” he said.

Also See: EDITORIAL: Faleomavaega: no friend of Taiwan

Also See: Preparing for an attack from China

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