January 5, 2010
U.S. set to sell arms to Taiwan in early 2010
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Obama administration is expected to approve the sale of several billion dollars worth of Black Hawk helicopters and anti-missile batteries to Taiwan early this year, possibly accompanied by a plan gauging design and manufacturing capacity for diesel-power submarines for the island, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
United States (U.S.)--China relations are to face strains in the early months of 2010, as the White House appears set to sell a package of weapons to Taiwan and President Obama plans to meet Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, the report cited U.S. officials and analysts as indicating.
The U.S. President plans to meet his fellow Nobel Peace laureate, considered a separatist by Beijing, in Washington D.C. in January.
Obama made headlines last year when the White House, in an effort to generate goodwill from China, declined to receive the Dalai Lama, marking the first time since 1991 that a U.S. president declined to receive the Tibetan spiritual leader during his annual visits to Washington.
The report quoted David M. Lampton, director of China studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, as saying that “I think it's going to be nasty...The U.S. and China need each other.”
Administration officials were also cited as saying that they are sure China will react negatively to the arms sales to Taiwan and the meeting with the Dalai Lama.
At a minimum, U.S. officials expect that President Hu Jintao of China will not meet a planned nuclear security summit scheduled for April. China could also halt the resumed U.S. dialogue with China's military, which had been one of the central goals of the White House's China policy. Hopes for China's cooperation in Afghanistan are also in question.
One hint that China will limit the scope of its reaction came during Obama's meeting with Hu in November, analysts were cited as saying.
Hu used the formulation “sophisticated weapons” when speaking about any possible U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. U.S. officials took that to be a reference to a tranche of F-16 fighters that Taiwan requested but that, according to U.S. sources, will not be on Taipei's shopping list this time.
“We hope that he [Obama] will not do that,” said Zhou Wenzhong, China's ambassador to the U.S., when asked about the possibility of the arms sales and the meeting with the Dalai Lama.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2010/01/04/239173/US-set.htm
