The US and China on Friday held top-level talks on Taiwan, with Washington working pre-emptively to avoid fallout as a decision nears on whether to sell fighter jets to Taiwan.
Wang Yi (王毅), China’s top official charged with Taiwan, met with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined part of the closed-door session, a US Department of State official said.
It was the latest step in a huge lobbying effort by Beijing to ensure that the US does not sell advanced F-16C/D aircraft to Taipei. A decision on the proposed sale will be announced on or before Oct. 1.
Insiders said later that while “nothing new” emerged from the session, Chinese opposition to the sale of the new F-16s is probably greater than to any previously proposed arms sale.
While it remains impossible to say just how much impact the Chinese lobbying has had, many Washington commentators expect US President Barack Obama to turn down Taiwan’s request for 66 of the F-16C/Ds, but to offer to refit and upgrade the country’s existing fleet of older F-16A/B jets.
Mark Toner, the Department of State’s deputy spokesman, played down the significance of Wang’s four-day visit, saying: “He’s just visiting as part of a sustained dialogue with China on a broad range of mutual interests, including cross-strait relations.”
Pressed hard for some indication of how the talks on arms sales had progressed, Toner said: “You know, I’m not aware. Our policy on arms sales is very clear and well known. There is no decision yet on arms sales to Taiwan. I think it’s important that we have dialogue with China on a range of issues, including cross-strait relations. That doesn’t, certainly, preclude our strong relations with Taiwan, but I think it’s important that we have these kind of positive exchanges and talk about a range of issues.”
“We continue to make available to Taiwan defense articles and services to help them maintain a sufficient self-defense capability, but no decisions have been made on potential arms sales,” he said.
A Chinese official said later that Wang had used the meeting with Clinton to reiterate China’s strong opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan.
China’s Xinhua news agency said Wang “stressed that the Chinese mainland has been steadfast in opposing the US arms sales to Taiwan, because it harms Sino-US ties and the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.”
An independent expert on US-China relations said Wang had made a thinly veiled threat to break off all military-to-military direct contact between the US and China if the F-16C/Ds were sold.
Earlier in the week, Wang met with US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and Daniel Russel, senior director for Asian affairs at the White House National Security Council.
However, China is not the only one lobbying on the arms sales issue. Taiwanese Government Information Office Minister Philip Yang (楊永明) and Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) both visited the US this month to urge Washington to sell the advanced fighters to Taipei.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon offered praise on Friday after China made a rare acknowledgment that it is building its first aircraft carrier. State television on Wednesday broadcast footage of the old Soviet ship, which is being refitted in the port city of Dalian. The defense ministry said the carrier would be used for “scientific research, experiments and training.”
“That’s a good sign to us. We’ve always talked about the need for transparency so that we better understand what their intentions are,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters.
He said the Pentagon was already well aware of the carrier project, “but it’s at least a positive sign that they are being more forthcoming.”
China showed footage of the carrier at a time of high tensions on the South China Sea with Vietnam and the Philippines. China’s defense ministry did not say when the carrier would be finished.
At a joint news conference during Mullen’s visit, China’s military chief General Chen Bingde (陳炳德) defended the project and said that the US has 11 aircraft carriers in service.
“China is a big country [and] we only have quite a small number of ships, but small ships. And this is not commensurate with the status of the country of China,” Chen said.
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