Saturday, January 30, 2010

DTN News: China Angry At $6.4 Billion US-Taiwan Arms Deal

DTN News: China Angry At $6.4 Billion US-Taiwan Arms Deal *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, China - January 30, 2010: China has suspended military exchange visits with the United States in protest over $6.4 billion in planned US arms sales to Taiwan and warned the US ambassador that the sales would harm already strained ties. The state-run Xinhua News Agency cited the Defence Ministry as saying the suspension is because of the “bad impact” of the arms sales on the two countries’ military relations. Army soldiers demonstrate anti-air weaponry to Taiwan's Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu during a military exercise in Penghu in this handout picture taken January 29, 2010. The Obama administration notified Congress on Friday of its first proposed arms sales to Taiwan, a potential $6.4 billion package bound to add to rising U.S.-China strains over trade and cyber security. China warned on Saturday that Washington's announcement of arms sales to Taiwan would badly hurt ties between the two global powers, widening rifts in their far-reaching relationship. Picture taken January 29, 2010. China took a similar step in 2008 after the former Bush administration announced a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan. The latest arms sales could complicate the cooperation the US seeks on issues ranging from Iran’s nuclear program to the loosening of Internet controls, including a Google-China stand-off over censorship. Details of the arms sale were posted Friday on a Pentagon Web site. It would include 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, 114 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles, mine-hunting ships and information technology. US lawmakers have 30 days to comment on the proposed sale. Without objections, it would proceed. Taiwan is the most sensitive issue in US-China relations. China claims the self-governing island as its own, while the United States is Taiwan’s most important ally and largest arms supplier. Although Taiwan’s ties with China have warmed considerably since the Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou took office 20 months ago, Beijing has threatened to invade if the island ever formalises its de facto independence. Both the US and China have previously said they want to improve military ties, which have been frosty. Earlier today, the vice foreign minister He Yafei warned the US Ambassador Jon Huntsman that the sale would “cause consequences that both sides are unwilling to see”. The vice minister urged that the sale be immediately cancelled, it said. The US is “obstinately making the wrong decision”, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

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