The US wants to hear from Taiwan about weapons it may need to thwart any Chinese threat in years to come, the State Department's top policy maker for the region said in remarks made public on Monday.
"We want to hear from Taiwan about the defensive capabilities it assesses that it will need in the medium to long term," James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said in previously unreported remarks to a March conference on arms sales to Taiwan.
"We are looking for a free-flowing exchange about challenges to Taiwan's security and a forward-looking dialogue," he added, making it clear that the George W. Bush administration sought the closest military and political ties with Taiwan of any US administration in decades.
Kelly's remarks, made available under the US' Freedom of Information Act, were likely to irk China.
He was speaking March 12 after meeting Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yao-ming (
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the same conference, which was closed to the press, that the US was "eager to help" both with arms sales and advice on military modernization.
Peter Brookes, deputy assistant defense secretary for the region, said at the Florida session that the US, worried by China's missile buildup opposite Taiwan, was moving to boost the presence of aircraft carrier battle groups in the western Pacific. The US was also looking into deploying several more warships and guided-missile submarines "to improve our forward deterrent posture," Brookes said.
Former US president Bill Clinton sent two carrier battle groups to signal support for Taiwan in March 1996 after China fired missiles into the sea off Taiwan's two main ports.
Kelly said the US had "gladly fulfilled" its commitment under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help meet Taiwan's legitimate defensive weapons needs.
In April, US President George W. Bush offered Taipei the biggest US arms package since 1992, including four Kidd-class destroyers, 12 P-3C Orion submarine-hunting aircraft and help in obtaining up to eight conventional submarines -- something previous administrations had shied away from for fear China might construe them as offensive weapons.
"We will, of course, continue discussion of our security assistance relationship," Kelly told the gathering, the highest-level documented US-Taiwan defense talks since at least 1979, when the US shifted its official recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
"In this way, our respective operational personnel can address concretely the emerging security environment and the defensive needs that arise from it," he said.
Kelly called on Taiwan to update its military doctrine to shape a defense that is flexible, features multi-service cooperation and is responsive to civilian control.
Taiwan "must demonstrate that your armed services can work jointly to counter the new challenges of the 21st century -- blockade, missile attack, information warfare, special operations forces actions," he said.
Kelly said the US hoped China would drop conditions to a renewal of the cross-strait dialogue so Taiwan and China could work to resolve their differences peacefully.
"People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have the genius to make that happen," he said. "Taiwan's military can help create a secure and stable environment that enables this cooperative genius to have its day."
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