China urges U.S. to end weapon sales to Taiwan

China urges U.S. to end weapon sales to Taiwan

BEIJING (Agencies): China urged the United States on Tuesday
to end all weapon sales to Taiwan, a day after Washington delayed
a decision on whether to supply the island with AEGIS naval
destroyers.

"The Chinese government urges the U.S. government to abide by
the norms of the three Sino-US joint communiques. Stop all arms
sales to Taiwan including long-range warning radars and AEGIS
(destroyers)," foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said at a
press briefing.

He said such sales were "obstacles to the improvement of
China-U.S. relations," while also serving to bolster "splittist
forces" in Taiwan.

"China's government and its people have always been strongly
opposed to any sale of sophisticated arms to Taiwan by the U.S.
and have launched representations to the U.S. on many
occasions," Sun said.

Sun was responding to Monday's postponement by the U.S. of a
decision on whether to sell Taiwan four AEGIS destroyers -- a
move apparently motivated by fears of damaging U.S.-China
relations.

The United States also deferred a decision on the sale of
advanced PAVE PAWS radar, but agreed to sell equipment that would
boost the island's existing radar system "to answer the short
term needs of Taiwan," a U.S. official said.

U.S. administrations have been bound by law to provide the
island with the means to defend itself since 1979 when Washington
ended diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with
Beijing.

Tensions in the Taiwan Strait began rising prior to the March
18 presidential elections with Chen Shui-bian, of the pro-
independence Democratic Progressive Party, the least
accommodating candidate to Beijing's reunification desires.

So far, Chen, like his predecessor, Kuomintang Party head and
outgoing President Lee Teng-hui, has refused to accept
reunification negotiations on Beijing's terms.

Spokesman Sun reiterated Beijing's position that it would
watch and wait to see whether Taiwan president-elect Chen makes
any moves toward greater Taiwan independence, or whether he
succumbs to Beijing's pressure and accepts negotiations based on
the "principle of one China."

"Taiwan independence will lead to the disaster of war," Sun
warned.

"We will never renounce the use of force," he said, "This is
mainly targeted at those independence forces and foreign forces
trying to interfere in China's internal affairs."

Taiwan insisted on Tuesday that plans to upgrade the island's
defenses were motivated by genuine security concerns --
signaling disappointment at the U.S. decision to delay the multi-
billion dollar sale of the destroyers.

Washington is considering what arms it will sell Taipei this
year, and senior officials told The Associated Press on Monday
that four US$1 billion destroyers won't be part of the package.

Washington also approved Taiwanese training and help in
integrating the $18 billion worth of weapons already sold to
Taiwan, the official said.

Damon Bristow, a researcher with Britain's Royal United
Services Institute for Defense Studies, said selling the Aegis
ships to Taiwan would be a mistake because the military would not
be able to find enough trained sailors to crew the destroyers.

"There's no point in buying a Porsche if you've only been
driving for six months," Bristow said.

"I'm not against Taiwan having Aegis. I'm just against selling
it to Taiwan now," he said.

China this year received delivery of the first of two modern
Sovremenny-class Russian destroyer and is awaiting delivery of up
to eight Israeli Phalcon Advanced Warning Airborne Control
Systems (AWACS) mounted on Russian military cargo planes.

The destroyers and AWACS, when coupled with China's battalion
of Russian Sukhoi 27 fighter jets and a pending deal for the
supply of advance Sukhoi 30s, could significantly enhance the
Chinese military's capability to implement a naval blockade of
Taiwan, defense sources in Beijing said.