China Wednesday summoned the US ambassador in Beijing to protest new arms sales to Taiwan, as US President George W. Bush promised to help the island defend itself against Chinese attack.
Bush's decision Tuesday to approve the most significant package of weapons since 1992 was welcomed by Taiwan but greeted with fury by China, which claims the island as part of its territory.
The US leader shrugged off Chinese anger and bluntly told Beijing his administration would stand side by side with Taiwan to rebuff an invasion.
In an interview with ABC television, Bush was asked if the United States had an obligation to defend Taiwan.
"Yes, we do. And the Chinese must understand that," he replied. The United States would do "whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself," he added.
The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act obliges the United States to sell the island enough weaponry to ensure its defense, although Washington has in the past refrained from directly committing US forces.
It was unclear whether Bush's comments represented a hardening of US policy or simply a strong statement of support for weapons sales to the island.
The package of US arms -- which includes Kidd-class destroyers, P-3C submarine-hunting aircraft and a commitment to help Taiwan procure diesel-powered submarines -- would help Taiwan break a Chinese naval blockade.
US officials said the list of weapons went beyond those publicly disclosed and was drawn up in response to China's growing deployment of weapons threatening Taiwan, notably a missile build-up along the Chinese coast.
But China has rejected the US claims and accused the United States of violating its sovereignty with the arms deal.
The official Xinhua news agency said Vice Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing made "solemn representations" about the weapons deal to ambassador Joseph Prueher, who was summoned by the foreign ministry to hear the protest.
China's 2.5 million-strong armed forces, which have been feverishly procuring high-tech weapons from Russia in a bid to alter the strategic balance in the Taiwan Straits, warned the new US weaponry would not buy peace.
"Arms purchases can only make the Taiwan Straits situation more turbulent, increase the threat to regional peace and stability, and backfire," said an editorial in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily.
"Arms purchases will not only be unable to genuinely guarantee Taiwan's security, it may also bring disaster to the people of Taiwan."
Despite nearly 52 years of de facto independent rule, China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and it regularly threatens to invade the island if it moves towards independence or rebuffs talks on reunification.
Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, a former advocate of independence who is deeply distrusted by Beijing, said the new US weapons were needed.
"I believe Washington's decision will not only enhance Taiwan's defense capability and strengthen our people's confidence but also help maintain the military balance and stability across the strait."
Sino-US relations have been going through an extremely tense phase since Bush took office in January promising to treat Beijing as a competitor, and the arms sale will almost certainly raise tension further.
The two sides are embroiled in a heated row over the collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet on April 1, and China is still refusing to return the 80-million-dollar E-P3 aircraft.
The two sides have also clashed on human rights, Chinese assistance to Iraq and the Bush administration's plans to build a National Missile Defense system.
The tightly controlled official Chinese press, which has whipped up anti-American sentiment in the wake of the spy plane crisis, suggested the Taiwan arms deal could turn Sino-US relations back 20 years.
The English-language China Daily said Wednesday the "inflammatory decision ... could destroy the premise for Sino-US relations."
It said the arms sale could turn the clock back to before 1979, when the United States and China established diplomatic relations and Washington terminated a mutual security pact with Taiwan.
"Selling more advanced weapons to the island is tantamount to restoring the military alliance between Taiwan and the United States," it said -- BEIJING (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
