Thu, Jun 11, 2009 page1

• Congress’ Taiwan support could extend to F-16 sale

  • By William Lowther / STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
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  A Washington conference has been told there is a general consensus on Capitol Hill in support of Taiwan that could extend to selling it F-16 fighter planes, while a leading Republican congresswoman called on US President Barack Obama to move quickly on the sale.

  The conservative Heritage Foundation hosted the conference to discuss “The Taiwan Relations Act’s Enduring Legacy on Capitol Hill.”

  Congressman Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, said: “The US should not dictate any particular outcome of Taiwan’s relationship with the mainland. But we must see that the relationship develops peacefully and with the consent of the people in Taiwan. I am committed to ensuring that Taiwan has the military wherewithal to negotiate from a position of strength.”

  Standing in for Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Wilson said that Taiwan’s interest in China did not extend to unification.

  MISSILES

  He added that while the people of Taiwan may want to maintain the status quo forever, China does not and that is why it has more than 1,000 missiles aimed at Taiwan.

  Wilson said that any well-meaning reconciliation would require dismantling the missile threat to Taiwan and there was no sign that China was prepared to do that.

  He said: “What about the rest of the Chinese military build-up? They tell us it’s not aimed at us. Who is it aimed at? The Taiwanese know. That is why they want F-16s and that is why we should provide F-16s. It would be a deterrence to military adventurism and I believe it would promote peace through strength.”

  Saying that a recent resolution supporting the 30-year-old Taiwan Relations Act passed the Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, Wilson said there was “broad and enthusiastic consensus” on Capitol Hill in favor of Taiwan.

  He said that he was not aware of any direct discussions to date with the Obama administration on the sale of F-16s to Taiwan.

  PUSH FROM CONGRESS

  Asked if there was currently a push in Congress to sell F-16s to Taiwan, Wilson said: “It is my view that the vote we had on March 24, reaffirming our support for Taiwan, including a strong national defense for Taiwan, showed that members of Congress want that.”

  Ros-Lehtinen was unable to attend as principal speaker at the conference because of last-minute scheduling of Foreign Affairs Committee business, but Dennis Halpin, a senior member of her staff and an expert on Taiwan, read long quotes from the speech.

  Ros-Lehtinen was to say in her speech: “Beijing has given no indication that it has altered its ultimate objective of forcibly dominating Taiwan. Beijing has undertaken no confidence building measures to accompany the recent thaw. It has continued unabated in its buildup of missiles.”

  CROSS-STRAIT THAW

  “All this implies that the recent cross-strait thaw may be no more than an early rise in temperatures to be followed by an even bleaker winter of discontent. Beijing also continues its expansion in submarines and other naval vessels seeking to turn the Western Pacific into a Chinese lake,” she added.

  “The March incident involving the US surveillance ship, the [USS] Impeccable, is only the latest evidence of Beijing’s attempt to dominate the international waters in the general vicinity of Taiwan. I wish that Taiwan already had those diesel submarines first promised by the Bush Administration in 2001,” the speech said.

  VITAL

  “I have always been a strong advocate legislatively in the Congress of making those weapons systems vital to the defense of Taiwan readily available, as called for in the Taiwan Relations Act. I also advocate the provision of a new generation of F-16 aircraft for the defense of Taiwan and hope that the Obama administration will act expeditiously on this matter,”she said.
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