The major presidential candidates are welcoming word of a possible Pentagon-brokered $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) calling for the deal to include even more weapons systems and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) saying he regrets China’s negative reaction to it.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced last Friday it notified Congress of a package of six possible Foreign Military Sales to Taiwan for aircraft, missiles and equipment–including AH-64 Apache helicopters, Patriot missiles, and Javelin guided-missile systems.
The proposal has angered China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province. The deal may be reviewed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee–which Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, sits on and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), his vice presidential running mate, chairs.
Obama believes the package “represents an important response to Taiwan’s defense needs,” his national security spokesman Wendy Morigi said recently via e-mail.
“The sale helps to contribute to Taiwan’s defense and the maintenance of a healthy balance in the Taiwan Strait,” she said, adding Obama “looks forward to fully reviewing” the notifications and Pentagon justification.
Obama supports China and Taiwan’s efforts to reduce tensions, and believes a “strengthening of Taiwan’s defenses will not undermine the process of reduction of tensions and can actually promote it,” Morigi said.
The Democrat also “regrets” that China responded to word of the possible arms deal by suspending military-to-military exchanges with the United States as well as nonproliferation talks, she said, and believes those discussions should be resumed.
GOP presidential nominee McCain released a statement Tuesday welcoming news of the potential arms sale to Taiwan and calling for it to be expanded to include submarines and Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built F-16 fighter jets.
“I have long supported such sales in order to strengthen deterrence in the Taiwan Strait and to help preserve the peace,” McCain said, saying if elected president he will “continue the longstanding and close ties between our peoples.”
He noted the Bush administration has not included in the package all the elements Taiwan requested “for its legitimate security requirements.”
“I urge the administration to reconsider this decision, in light of its previous commitment to provide submarines and America’s previous sales of F-16s,” McCain said. “These sales–which could translate into tens of thousands of jobs here at home–would help retain America’s edge in the production of advanced weaponry and represent a positive sign in these difficult economic times.”
The FMS proposals unveiled last week include: $3.1 billion for 330 Patriot Advanced Capbility-3 (PAC-3) guided missiles; $2.53 billion for 30 AH-64D Block III Apache Longbow attack helicopters; $334 million for the establishment of a blanket order requisition case for follow-on spare parts in support of F-5E/F, C-130H, F-16A/B and Indigenous Defense Fighter aircraft; $200 million for 32 UGM-84L sub-launched Harpoon Block II missiles, $250 million for upgrades to four E-2T aircraft to the Hawkeye 2000 configuration; and $47 million for 182 Javelin guided missile rounds.
The prime contractors for these systems are:Raytheon [RTN]; Lockheed Martin; Boeing [BA]; General Electric [GE]; Northrop Grumman [NOC]; and BAE Systems (Defense Daily, Oct. 6).
China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, in response to the FMS announcements “cancelled or postponed several upcoming military-to-military exchanges with the U.S.,” said Marine Maj. Stewart Upton, a Pentagon spokesman.
“The bi-lateral events affected involve senior-level visits and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief exchanges that were scheduled to occur between now and the end of November,” Upton said in a statement.
He said there has been no change in U.S. policy, and noted under the Taiwan Relations Act the United States “makes available items necessary for Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self defense.”
Upton said the United States hopes to resume military-to-military exchanges with China.
China’s foreign ministry has said it strongly opposes the Taiwan arms sales, and China’s ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzhong, registered a protest at the State Department on Monday, the Associated Press reported.