The country’s new envoy to Washington, Jason Yuan (袁健生), expressed confidence yesterday that Taiwan would soon begin receiving arms from the US, saying that eight major weapons systems pending congressional approval are “almost a done deal.”
Information on whether the US has imposed a freeze on arms sales to Taiwan has been contradictory. Previous reports have speculated that Taiwan called for a temporary halt to the arms deal to avoid rocking the boat amid warming relations with China.
The weapons systems affected by the delay include sea-launched Harpoon missiles, PAC-3 missile batteries and 30 Apache helicopters.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
However, both the US and Taiwanese governments have denied that the deal has been frozen, saying it would be concluded in the near future.
“The word ‘freeze’ has not been used by the [Bush] administration. All of you learn things from the Washington Post, the New York Times, Defense News, or from think tanks … I don’t think you heard anyone from the administration, particularly the State Department or the Department of Defense or the White House, say that, for the time being, the Bush administration is going to freeze arms sales to Taiwan,” Yuan said at a media conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei.
Many officials in charge of arms and security issues want to expedite the process to avoid delays in the US Congress’ approval of the deal that could arise with the US elections and the upcoming congressional recess, he said.
Yuan said providing Taiwan with the defensive weaponry it needs formed the core of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act.
“I don’t think that’s a big issue. By the time I go there [back to Washington on Aug. 4], it’ll almost be a done deal,” he said in English.
Yuan, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) representative in the US for the past four years, said his main task as the de facto ambassador would be to restore mutual trust between Taipei and Washington, which he said had deteriorated over the past few years.
Another item on his list of priorities was upgrading the level of official visits between the two countries, Yuan said.
Because of the US’ adherence to its “one China” policy, official communications and visits between senior officials from Taiwan and the US are banned. High-ranking Taiwanese officials are also prohibited from landing on US soil and such requests are judged on a case-by-case basis.
Yuan, however, said someone of “great importance” would soon be visiting Taiwan, and “by that time, you [the media] will see that Taiwan maintains good relations with the US Congress.”
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has repeatedly said that Taiwan would show how much it values the US’ friendship by not producing any more “surprises” and not being a “troublemaker,” Yuan said.
“And this is precisely why Ma was very clear that transit stops and official visits are two separate issues,” he said, adding there would be no fanfare during Ma’s upcoming stopovers in San Francisco and Los Angeles en route to Paraguay and the Dominican Republic to attend the two nations’ presidential inaugurations on Aug. 15 and Aug. 16.
Increasing Taiwan’s participation in international organizations was another priority, Yuan said, but declined to elaborate what the approach would be to the UN bid.
“The point is to start on goals that are more achievable, like the WHO, or observer status at the World Health Assembly. Step by step, we will eventually get there,” he said.
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