China raised the stakes in its rocky ties with the Bush administration Tuesday with a sharp warning over arms sales to Taiwan and a denial of US accusations that it helped upgrade Iraqi air defenses, said reports.
US President George W. Bush has protested to China about its alleged involvement in bolstering Iraq's air defenses.
At his first news conference since taking office late last month, Bush said he was "concerned about the Chinese presence in Iraq" and was "sending the appropriate response" to Beijing.
China and Iraq have already denied allegations that Chinese civilian and military workers have been helping lay fiber-optic cables to improve Iraq's air defense network, in contravention of UN sanctions.
At the presser, Hamdoon rubbished US claims that Chinese experts had helped Iraq put in place a fiber-optic network to control its air defense systems.
"There are no Chinese experts in Iraq; everyone knows that. I formally deny this type of assertion," he declared.
The Iraqi representative was speaking after a series of meetings with France's most senior foreign affairs officials in February.
Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan also attacked the United States' "perverted ways" in dealing with human rights at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament, said AFP.
According to the agency, China is growing increasingly alarmed ahead of an April deadline when Bush will decide what new weapons to sell to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act.
In particular Tang warned Washington against agreeing the sale of Aegis destroyers and PAC-3 anti-missile systems which Taiwan wants to counter the threat from the growing Chinese missile arsenal pointed at the island.
"The US side should come to the recognition of the serious dangers involved. It should rein in its wild horse riding on the side of the precipice," Tang said.
"If the US side continues to insist on selling advanced weapons to Taiwan including the Aegis missile destroyer and PAC-3 anti-missile systems, then that would send a very wrong signal to the Taiwan authorities," said Tang.
Tang said the weapons sales would also endanger Sino-US relations and inflame tension in the Taiwan Strait.
Unconfirmed reports say Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has asked Bush to sell four Aegis destroyers with early warning radars to rumble any Chinese missile attack.
The PAC-3 missile is designed to provide protection to airfields, ports or troops in the field against theater ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.
Also on Taiwan's wish list are P-3 anti-submarine aircraft, anti-ship Harpoon missiles, MK48ADCAP torpedos, AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters and M1A2 tankers, according to press reports, cited by AFP – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
