U.S. Clears Way for Made-in-Taiwan Missiles : Military: Taipei may buy components of the Patriot to upgrade its air defenses against China.

The Bush Administration recently cleared the way for Taiwan to buy the components of Patriot missiles from the United States to upgrade its air defenses against China, according to Pentagon and defense industry officials.

The action was not publicly announced, but a spokesman for Raytheon Corp. acknowledged that the Bush Administration on Dec. 9 awarded an export license authorizing the U.S. company to export the hardware--the guidance system, radar and command-and-control equipment--of Patriot missiles to Taiwan.

The Pentagon had quietly approved the general concept of the sale during annual military talks with Taiwan defense officials last August.

The U.S. action is aimed at easing Taiwan’s fears about a possible surprise attack from China. Taiwan’s anxieties were heightened last year by reports that China was about to obtain advanced fighter planes from the Soviet Union. But in the aftermath of the Soviet breakup, U.S. officials say that it is unclear whether the Patriot deal will ever be completed.

One U.S. specialist on Chinese and Taiwan military affairs, June Teufel Dreyer of the University of Miami, said approval of the sale demonstrates the change in the U.S. attitude toward arms sales to Taiwan since China’s crackdown on the democracy movement at Tian An Men Square in 1989.

“Our attitude was so protective toward China before that,” she said. “It’s important (for Taiwan) to defend against the proliferation of missiles by the People’s Republic of China.”

Hao Guangfeng, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said China was not aware of the proposed arms sale and therefore could not comment on it.

“Taiwan is in a difficult position, in that just about the only country that will sell them military equipment is the United States,” a senior Pentagon official said recently. “Everybody talks about it, but when it comes down to it, they don’t get it through their governments, or can’t get it approved. The Germans and the French have tried, and nothing seems to come to effect.”

Taiwan had asked for permission to buy completed Patriot missiles, which were used to help Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey defend against Iraqi Scud missiles during the Persian Gulf War. But the Administration rejected this idea. The United States continues to honor a 1982 statement with China in which the Ronald Reagan Administration pledged to hold American arms sales to Taiwan at a level no higher than $800 million a year and to reduce these sales over the long term.

Although it turned down sales of the missiles themselves, the Bush Administration approved the sale of the Patriot’s guidance system, radar and command-and-control equipment, which would be incorporated into a new missile produced in Taiwan.

Raytheon is now negotiating with Taiwan to work out a contract for the deal, which Robert A. Skelly, company vice president, said would be “a very important sale.”

“It would be as good as a Patriot, sort of their own version of a Patriot,” said a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition he would not be named.

Albert Lin, a spokesman for the Coordination Council for North American Affairs, Taiwan’s unofficial embassy in Washington, declined to comment, saying it is Taiwan’s policy never to discuss arms deals with the United States.

The Pentagon official acknowledged that the United States is studying what to do about Taiwan’s continuing request to purchase modern U.S. jet fighters.

Throughout the 1980s, Taiwan repeatedly tried but failed to persuade the Reagan Administration to let it buy high-performance fighter planes, such as F-16s. Although Washington turned down Taiwan’s requests, U.S. officials cleared the way for Taiwan to obtain American technology that will be used to build a jet fighter of its own, known as the Indigenous Defense Fighter.

But U.S. officials acknowledge that Taiwan’s new plane will not be ready for three or four years.