Admiral Lee Chieh (
Sources familiar with the trip said that Lee will arrive in Washington the first week of April. He is expected to meet General Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense; and Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense.
Lee will also visit Hawaii, the headquarters of US Pacific Forces and other military installations.
Lee will be the second navy commander from Taiwan to visit Washington in the past decade. Admiral Ku Chung-lien (
As a prominent candidate for Chief of the General Staff, Lee's visit has been expected and is welcomed by the US government, a US official said.
Though one report said that Lee's visa had been denied by the US government, "it has never been an issue," said the official.
There is are no official diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the US.
In 1998, however, Admiral Tang Fei (
People familiar with cross-strait issues pointed out that the timing for Lee's visit is sensitive. With US-Taiwan arms sales talks scheduled to take place at the end of April, and with most of the important items requested by Taiwan's navy -- such as AEGIS-equipped destroyers, P-3 anti-submarine aircraft and diesel-powered submarines -- having been put off by the Clinton administration last year, there is no doubt that Lee will express his concerns about the navy's defense needs, even though the purpose of his trip is not to lobby for the arm sales.
It has been announced that Taiwan's delegation for arms sales talks will be led by General Huo Shou-yeh (霍守業), deputy chief of the general staff. Sources revealed that a high-level meeting on Taiwan policy had been held by the new administration of US President George W. Bush, but that no decision on arms sales was made.
They are not expecting the Bush administration to discuss or brief any possible decision with Qian Qichen (錢其琛), vice premier of the People's Republic of China, who will arrive at Washington on March 21 to visit Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as Rumsfeld.
Analysts believe that both Taiwan and China are using tactics to influence the decision on arm sales.
According to a US official, Taiwan has not yet formally requested the sale of four Kidd-class destroyers. Lee is to be briefed on the combat systems of Kidd destroyers and also tour the warships in person. Sources said that the sale of the Kidds was initiated by the US navy last summer. Taiwan's navy, however, had expressed an interest in buying Spruance-class destroyers, the first large US navy warships to employ gas turbine engines as their main propulsion system.
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