A US professor is urging US President Barack Obama to make a deal with Beijing over the sale of advanced F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan.
“The warplanes should be used as bargaining chips,” said Missouri State University political science professor Dennis Hickey in an article published this week in the Los Angeles Times.
The article appeared on the eve of Obama’s departure on a four-nation tour of Asia, beginning yesterday, that will include two days in China and incorporate direct talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) that are certain to touch on US arms sales to Taiwan.
While the official agenda may be dominated by efforts to resolve the global financial crisis, climate change and nuclear proliferation in North Korea, Hickey said that most analysts agree that Beijing’s primary concern would be Washington’s continued military support of Taiwan.
In particular, the Chinese are known to strongly oppose Taiwan’s request for 66 upgraded F-16 fighters.
“Obama should not bow to Chinese pressure and scuttle the idea of F-16 sales,” Hickey wrote.
He said that the administration ought to explore the possibility of agreeing to a deal similar to that proposed by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) to former US president George W. Bush in 2002.
“The US should agree not to sell advanced fighters to Taiwan in exchange for the removal of the 1,500 ballistic missiles that China has deployed directly opposite Taiwan,” he said.
“Such an initiative could yield numerous dividends,” Hickey said.
He said that Beijing would seriously consider the proposal because it would generate goodwill in Taiwan.
It would also provide Taipei with tangible evidence that its policy of cooperation and conciliation with China is working.
“The current leaders would be able to more easily move forward with other measures aimed at rapprochement and enhance their prospects for re-election,” the professor said.
He pointed out that US officials have long emphasized that arms sales to Taiwan can serve as a stabilizing factor in East Asian affairs.
But in this instance, he said, the sale of high-profile F-16s would jeopardize relations with Beijing, undermine core US interests and help spark an arms race across the Taiwan Strait.
Hickey concluded: “If Washington uses the prospect of dropping such sales as a bargaining chip to persuade China to remove the missiles, it would help reduce cross-strait tensions, pave the way for closer Sino-American relations and promote peace and stability in the western Pacific.”
“The choice should be obvious,” Hickey said.
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