Arms sale to Taiwan angers China

President Bush is expected to authorize much of Taipei's wish list, including destroyers and submarines.

By PAUL DE LA GARZA

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 24, 2001

WASHINGTON -- In a decision sure to further sour relations between Washington and Beijing, President Bush today will authorize the sale of advanced weapons to Taiwan, including four Kidd-class destroyers and eight diesel-powered submarines, congressional and White House sources said.

Bush, however, will scrap the sale of the most controversial piece of equipment on Taipei's annual wish list, four Aegis-equipped destroyers, at least for now. Late Monday, a senior White House official told reporters that the Aegis would still be available to Taiwan if Bush decided later to offer it.

As word of the deal leaked Monday, China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province, reacted angrily. Beijing worries that Taiwan could use the high-tech weaponry to shield itself against China's growing arsenal of short-range ballistic missiles.

"We are absolutely and resolutely opposed to the sale of advanced weapons by the United States to Taiwan," said Zhang Yuanyuan, the Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington, in an interview.

"If the United States insists on selling advanced weapons to Taiwan, it will have a very serious, highly destabilizing impact on U.S.-China relations."

He characterized the "Taiwan question" as "the most important and serious issue in U.S.-China relations."

But the senior White House official said the United States believes there is nothing in the package for China to fear.

Since the U.S. spy plane incident two weeks ago, relations between Beijing and Washington have chilled. In fact, Bush apparently decided against the Aegis sale to prevent a further deterioration in U.S.-China relations.

To appease his conservative base, which fervently supports the Aegis sale to Taiwan, Bush will announce that he will review Taiwan's request if China does not reduce its military threat. China has threatened to attack Taiwan if it refuses to agree to talks on reunification or if it declares independence.

Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the United States is obligated to sell Taiwan "such defense articles and defense services -- as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability."

Every year, Taipei submits a wish list to Washington, and depending on the perceived Chinese threat, the White House reaches a decision.

Bush is granting Taiwan the bulk of its request, according to congressional and White House sources.

The Kidd-class destroyers, while equipped with a much less potent ship-borne radar system than the Aegis, would be a step up for the Taiwan navy.

Although no longer in use by the U.S. Navy, the Kidd-class destroyers have "plenty of useful life yet," Adm. Dennis Blair, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told Congress last month.

Analysts believe that Taiwan could use the ships to train for the eventual acquisition of the Aegis, capable of detecting and tracking scores of missiles, aircraft or surface vessels at once.

The Kidd-class destroyers will be available in 2003. The White House said the Aegis still could be available by 2010.

Bush also is expected to authorize the sale of at least a dozen P-3 submarine surveillance aircraft, similar to the U.S. spy plane that collided with a Chinese war fighter over the South China Sea on April 1.

With the Aegis system on the shelf, the most controversial piece of equipment sold to Taiwan could be the diesel-powered submarines. Although weapons sales are intended to shore up Taiwan's defenses, even the Pentagon considers the submarines offensive weapons.

Because American defense contractors no longer manufacture diesel-powered submarines, the White House probably would turn to an ally to fill Taiwan's request, including Germany.

According to people familiar with the package, Taiwan also will get JDAMS satellite-guided bombs, helicopters, assault vehicles and other arms.

In addition to the Aegis, the president will defer on Apache helicopters and M1 tanks.

A congressional source with direct knowledge of the arms deal said Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who is considered a China hard-liner, already had signed off on the package. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was to review the proposal Monday night.

Today, Rumsfeld was scheduled to break the news to a Taiwanese delegation during a visit to the Pentagon. The administration, meanwhile, was to brief members of Congress on Monday night.

In a testament to the tension between the United States and China, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Beijing would not be alerted of Bush's decision in advance. "They can read about it in the paper," he said. "We do not engage in consultations with the Chinese."

Countered Zhang, the Chinese Embassy spokesman: "We have our sources. We can find out."

At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer responded to a question about U.S.-China relations by characterizing the arms sale as routine.

"Every president has made their decision about Taiwan's defense needs in the context of events in that year dealing with Taiwan," Fleischer said.

Pressed on whether Bush's decision on which weapons to sell Taiwan was linked to China's detention of the 24 crew members, Fleischer said, "Of course the president is going to consider all factors that go into Taiwan's defense needs."

Zhang, however, said that with the latest weapons sale to Taiwan, the United States was violating a 1982 joint U.S.-China communique in which the United States committed itself to reducing weapons sales to the island, a pledge no American administration has met.

"It calls into question the American commitment to an international agreement," he said.

- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Kidd-class destroyers and Aegis system

The Bush administration has decided to sell Kidd-class destroyers to Taiwan, but not destroyers equipped with the Aegis combat radar system. Some facts:

Kidd-class destroyers:

Sometimes referred to as the "Ayatollah class" because they were originally built for the shah of Iran. They were acquired by the U.S. Navy after the shah's overthrow in 1979.

Built for action in the Persian Gulf, these ships have an excellent air conditioning system.

Geared for general warfare instead of anti-submarine war, with the ability to fire surface-to-air missiles in support of Aegis cruisers, which, if necessary, can assume control of the destroyer's missiles.

Have air-defense radar that allows them to command a wide ocean area.

Combine some of the features of the Spruance-class destroyers with the combat system of the Virginia class nuclear cruisers.

Considered a multimission fleet, the ships are able to operate offensively to deal with simultaneous air, surface and subsurface attacks.

Armed with the New Threat Upgrade anti-air warfare system, two Mk 26 launchers for standard surface-to-air missiles, two 5-inch guns and hangar facilities for one Lamps Mk 1 helicopter.

The average annual cost to operate one of the Kidd-class destroyers is $25-million.

They were decommissioned by the Navy in 1998.

Aegis:

The high-powered radar is able to perform search and missile guidance functions and can track 100 or more targets simultaneously.

Destroyers equipped with the system are capable of anti-air, anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare.

Ships in the USS Arleigh Burke class of destroyers and USS Ticonderoga class of cruisers are equipped with the Aegis system. The USS Cole, damaged in a terrorist attack in Yemen last October, is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

System includes AN/SPY-1B radar and AN/UYK-43/44 computers.

Aegis-type craft cost about $1-billion.

What Taiwan will get from the U.S.

The United States will sell the following to Taiwan, according to the White House. Unless specified, it is unclear how many of each item Taiwan will receive.

Four Kidd-class destroyers ready by 2003.

12 P-3C Orion aircraft.

Eight diesel submarines designed to counter blockades and invasions.

Paladin self-propelled artillery system.

MH-53E minesweeping helicopters.

AAV7A1 Amphibious Assault Vehicles.

Mk 48 torpedoes without advanced capabilities.

Avenger surface-to-air missile system.

Submarine-launched and surface-launched torpedoes.

Aircraft survivability equipment.

The United States also will give Taiwan a technical briefing on the Patriot anti-missile system the island has been developing.

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