Tue, Jan 09, 2001 page4

• Taiwan likely to push for early Kidd sale

  DEFENSE ISSUE The US president-elect has vowed to be more supportive of Taiwan, which wants four destroyers to counter the growing threat from the other side of the Strait

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  Taiwan has signaled that it may ask the Bush administration to sell it four Kidd-class guided-missile destroyers to counter China's recently purchased Russian-made destroyers, the second of which is now steaming toward the Taiwan Strait.

  The request, likely to be made before the US and Taiwan hold annual talks on arms sales in April, would present president-elect George W. Bush with his first major challenge in managing the delicate balance of relations between China and Taiwan.

  Under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, the US is obligated to help Taiwan maintain its defenses. Bush has indicated in the past that he will be more aggressive in fulfilling that obligation than was the Clinton administration, which declined to sell Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to Taiwan last year.

  The Kidd-class destroyers carry more modest weapons and radar systems than the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, but the ships would nonetheless be the largest and most powerful in Taiwan's navy.

  In Washington, Scott McClellan, a spokesman for the Bush presidential transition committee, said on Sunday, "The president-elect believes it is important for the United States to speak with one voice in foreign policy, and until Jan. 20, that voice is the Clinton administration."

  China is certain to object to any such sale, which would be the most significant weapons transfer by the US to Taiwan since Bush's father sold the nation 150 advanced F-16 fighter aircraft in 1992.

  That sale, which China said breached a 1982 joint communique not to increase the quantity or quality of arms sold to Taiwan, angered Beijing and cost some US companies business that went to European competitors instead.

  Tensions between China and Taiwan increased after the election of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as president last year. In the past he had advocated declaring outright independence from China, which considers Taiwan part of its sovereign territory.

  He has since softened his stance, saying Taiwan would declare independence only if attacked. But Beijing has threatened to use force to bring Taiwan under China's control if Taiwan's government fails to show good faith in negotiating unification in a timely fashion.

  `Small three links'

  Taiwan tried easing tensions last week by allowing direct travel and trade between the mainland and two heavily fortified outlying islands just off China's coast. Beijing wants direct links with the main island of Taiwan itself, but Taiwan fears that its economy might grow too dependent on China.

  China hinted on Saturday that it might soften its demand that Chen explicitly accept the "one China" principle before negotiating such direct links. That would require Chen to acknowledge Taiwan as an inseparable part of China, which he has so far refused to do.

  In an article published by China Daily, the country's official English-language newspaper, a government official said Chen's government could negotiate direct links without making such a statement if the links themselves "operated as the domestic matters of one country instead of as state-to-state affairs."

  But Taiwan is not letting down its guard.

  Chen said in August that the island should begin considering new purchases of fighter aircraft to counter the advanced Russian-made jets that China is expected to receive this year.

  And on Friday, the commander in chief of Taiwan's navy, Admiral Lee Chieh (李傑), was quoted by the Central News Agency as saying that the Pentagon had recommended that Taiwan acquire the Kidd-class destroyers to replace the nation's World War II-era Gearing-class destroyers.

  The four Kidd-class destroyers, costing a total of about US$600 million, would give Taiwan's navy a chance to train for an eventual purchase of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which cost 10 times as much, the admiral was quoted as saying.

  President Clinton turned down Taiwan's request for the Arleigh Burke destroyers last April, in part because of Beijing's strong opposition to such a sale.

  The Arleigh Burke ships are equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles and AEGIS radar systems, which are capable of tracking more than 100 targets simultaneously. Weapons experts say the AEGIS system could someday be adapted for use in the kind of theater missile defense, whose development China vehemently opposes.

  The Kidd-class destroyers, each more than double the size of Taiwan's largest current warship, could provide a platform for simultaneously conducting anti-air, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, according to Jane's Defense Weekly.

  Lee, the Taiwanese admiral, was quoted as saying that such weapons systems would boost the nation's ability to counter China's Russian-made Sovremenny-class destroyers and Kilo-class submarines.

  Threat on the way

  The second of the Sovremenny-class destroyers, armed with supersonic Sunburn anti-ship missiles that can carry nuclear warheads, is expected to pass through the Taiwan Strait this month en route to the mainland.

  The Sovremenny destroyers are part of a mainland arms procurement program intended to enable China to threaten Taiwan across the 161km-wide strait, something it can do today only with ballistic missiles.

  Besides the destroyers, China is believed to have purchased dozens of Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft from Russia recently and is talking about buying an advanced Russian early-warning radar system, adding to an arsenal that already includes 48 Sukhoi-27 fighters and four Kilo-class submarines.

  The purchases do not yet add up to a significant threat, say military analysts who also note that hardware alone does not equal military might. Both Taiwan and China will need years of training before they can field their advanced weaponry with any confidence. Otherwise, the guided-missile destroyers, for example, could become little more than expensive sitting ducks for the other side to sink.

  But the Pentagon warned in a report last year that if Washington did not help Taiwan upgrade its weapon systems, China's procurement program could tip the balance of power in Beijing's favor after 2005.

  Asked on Sunday whether the Pentagon had received an official request from Taiwan to buy the Kidd-class destroyers, Kenneth W. Bacon, the Pentagon spokesman, said that by mutual agreement, neither the US nor Taiwan comments on arms sale requests.

  If the Pentagon approves such a request, it notifies Congress, which can block the sale.
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