The Bush administration will agree to sell Taiwan several weapons systems that the Clinton administration had held back on, a senior congressional leader said in Washington on Wednesday.
A final decision as to which items to sell Taiwan is to be taken in April.
Henry Hyde, the new chairman of the House International Relations Committee, made the comments in his first address on Asia since becoming the committee's chairman in January.
Because he expects the sales to go through, Hyde said Congress would not have to take up the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act this year, which would strengthen military ties between the US and Taiwan and which failed to be approved by Congress last year.
This would put him at odds with the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jesse Helms, who has said he plans to make passage of the TSEA a priority this year.
Doubt
Senate sources doubt, however, whether Helms could gather enough support to pass the bill.
"The Taiwan Relations Act continues to require our government to provide Taiwan with the arms and equipment necessary to defend itself," Hyde told a breakfast meeting of the Asia Society.
"In recent years, as the PRC's military capability has grown and its arsenal of missiles has increased, Congress has become increasingly concerned that arms sales to Taiwan have been inadequate.
"In the next month or so the Bush administration will have to make decisions about this year's arms sales to Taiwan. I have no doubt that the new administration will approve a number of long-delayed requests for Taiwan," he said.
Later, in answer to a question, Hyde said he had talked with Secretary of State Colin Powell about the arms sales, and he came to his conclusion after that discussion and other conversations in Washington.
Hyde did not get into a discussion about individual weapons systems, and it was not clear whether he was referring to the sale of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with sophisticated AEGIS radar and missile defense management systems.
In addition to the AEGIS destroyers, Taiwan has been seeking to buy P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft, diesel submarines, and Kidd-class destroyers.
Taiwan would also like to take possession of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, or AMRAAMs, which the Clinton administration last year agreed to sell, but decided to store in the US until China received an equivalent Russian-supplied missile.
Missile defense
Hyde also said that Congress would support the Bush administration's bid to build a ballistic missile defense system, and "we certainly will look with interest at Taiwan's desire for missile defenses, which after all is a defense requirement that has resulted from deliberate decisions made by the government in Beijing."
On other issues, Hyde said he is "anxious" that Beijing gain acceptance into the WTO and he demanded that Taiwan gain entrance to the trade body at the same time.
Taiwan qualified for entry and concluded its trade agreements long ago, Hyde noted. "Congress has made it clear also in the PNTR legislation that we expect Beijing and Taipei to enter the WTO simultaneously," he said, referring to last year's approval by Congress of permanent normal trade relations with Beijing.
"I sincerely hope everyone understands how sensitive an issue this is, and how strongly any attempt by Beijing to delay or curtail Taiwan's accession could quickly backfire against the Chinese," he said.
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