U.S. to Sell Peking Jet Fighter Gear : Goldwater Assails $550-Million Plan to Upgrade Planes

The Reagan Administration announced Tuesday that it plans to sell sophisticated aircraft radar and computers to China to update that nation’s air force.

In announcing the $550-million sale of advanced aircraft equipment, the largest sale of U.S. military equipment to the Communist regime in Peking, the Pentagon said that U.S. foreign policy and security would benefit “by helping to improve the security of a friendly country which has been an important force for political stability and economic progress in Asia and the world.”

The Administration’s proposal represents a major step in the still-developing U.S.-Chinese relationship, particularly in the potentially significant area of arms sales. Such arms sales have been under discussion since 1980, and the first such agreement was reached last September when the United States approved a $98-million sale of equipment and a design to allow China to build a factory for artillery and other ammunition.

Fears for Taiwan

As the latest sale was being announced, it already was drawing sharp criticism. Although the Pentagon said the sale would have no impact on the region’s basic military balance, Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, portrayed it as a step in the potential collapse of the Nationalist Chinese government on Taiwan.

Included in the package would be navigation equipment and a display that allows a pilot to read cockpit instrument data projected on an eye-level screen. This avionic equipment allows the pilot to electronically detect, track and fire at distant airplanes without removing his eyes from the airspace in front of his craft.

The equipment would be used to modernize 50 Chinese-made F-8 interceptors, which are twin-jet, high-altitude warplanes that are modeled after Soviet MIGs and designed to counter Soviet bombers, an Air Force spokesman said. As a result, the interceptors would be able to fly in all weather conditions.

30 Days to Block Sale

Under standard procedures, Congress will have 30 days in which to block the sale.

Goldwater, one of Taiwan’s most strenuous defenders in Congress, made clear his opposition to the proposed sale when he cautioned in a Senate speech that “Red China is an uncertain and unproven military partner whose government leaders and policies can change erratically.”

The senator said that the “substantial modernization” of the Chinese military could lead to a situation in which the Taiwanese air force “is unable to maintain general air superiority over the Taiwan Strait,” allowing Peking to “impose a blockade of Taiwan at its discretion.”

“Should the United States allow the Republic of China on Taiwan to be neutralized or to fall under the control of Peking, it would foreclose the use of facilities on Taiwan to the United States and to the non-communist coalition of free nations in the region,” strengthening the Soviet strategic position, Goldwater said.

A coalition of conservatives also expressed concern last week in a letter to Reagan, saying that the sale would upset the military balance between China and Taiwan.

In contrast, the September sale of equipment for the artillery and ammunition factory in China was far less controversial.

Taiwan officials here had no immediate reaction to the new sale. Since the Carter Administration granted full diplomatic recognition to China on Jan. 1, 1979, Taiwan’s representation in Washington has been downgraded from an embassy to that of a quasi-diplomatic office, the Coordination Council for North American Affairs.

Taiwan Seeks F-20s

For several years, Taiwan has pressed the United States unsuccessfully for permission to buy F-20 advanced all-weather fighter planes to modernize its current force of aging F-5 fighters, which were purchased from the United States or built in Taiwan under a co-production agreement.

However, in moving to develop an arms relationship with China, the Administration has not provided any major new military equipment to Taiwan. A communique negotiated by the Reagan Administration and China in August, 1982, commits the United States to eventually reduce the amount of its arms sales to Taiwan.

Plans for the new sale were first reported in January by the Far Eastern Economic Review, and then in a Times report from Peking.

The advanced aircraft equipment would be assembled in the United States before it is delivered to China and installed in the planes there, according to Maj. Jan Dalby, an Air Force spokesman. He said the sale would not involve the transfer of weapons or drawings.

To handle the installation, 25 U.S. civilians working for an American aerospace company would be assigned to the project in China and up to five members of the Air Force would be based in China for up to six years, the Pentagon said.