U.S. Accord Clears Way for New Arms Sales to Taiwan

The Clinton Administration and Congress privately reached an agreement last week that will open the way for hundreds of millions of dollars in new U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Although China normally opposes such sales, the agreement was, in fact, a compromise that will prevent a further strain in relations between the United States and China. It will leave in effect a 12-year-old communique between the two nations in which the United States promised gradual reductions in arms exports to Taiwan.

Congress was moving to pass legislation that would have effectively scrapped the communique, a step that would remove any limits on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Under the compromise, the communique is left on the books as a general understanding, but Taiwan will be allowed to buy some specific new weapons systems.

The secret negotiations between the Administration and Congress took place at a sensitive time for U.S. relations with China. The Administration must decide by June whether to curb China’s trade privileges in this country if China does not improve its human rights record. China has said such action would prompt it to retaliate against U.S. companies.

“This whole fight took on increased importance, almost to the point of frenzy, because the decision (on China’s trade status) is so close,” a congressional source said.

China would have viewed overturning the 1982 arms communique as a serious affront and as tangible evidence that relations between the two countries have changed.

The episode also illustrates how foreign governments and private U.S. defense contractors maneuver in Washington over weapons sales. In this instance, American companies succeeded in winning the right to export previously banned weapons systems to Taiwan by gaining support in Congress for a measure directly challenging U.S. foreign policy.

“I am delighted that the Congress and the Administration and the defense exporting community were able to resolve their differences on this issue to the satisfaction of all,” said Anna Stout, executive vice president of the American League for Exports and Security Assistance, a defense industry trade group.

As a result of the Capitol Hill negotiations, the Administration will approve export applications for U.S. companies to sell Taiwan advanced American military electronics for frigates that Taiwan is buying from France. These new items include radar, electronic countermeasure systems and “the entire electronic combat suite . . everything that turns (a frigate) from a ship into a warship,” according to one U.S. defense industry official.

U.S. companies such as Litton and Raytheon had sought licenses to sell this high-tech military equipment to Taiwan for almost two years but had been turned down.

At issue between the Administration and Congress was a provision sponsored by Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) with the strong support of the League for Exports and Security Assistance.

The provision, which would have removed all limits on arms sales to Taiwan, was attached to a State Department authorization bill approved 20 to 0 last year by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It passed the Senate by voice vote early this year. Top-level Administration officials then launched an intensive campaign to derail the measure in a Senate-House conference.

White House National Security Adviser Anthony Lake met privately with Murkowski; Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott wrote Congress to threaten a presidential veto, and Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord worked the phones to line up support for the Administration on Capitol Hill.

Li Daoyu, China’s ambassador to the United States, also worked actively against the measure, Capitol Hill sources said. A spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington declined to comment.

In the end, Congress agreed to water down Murkowski’s amendment and to limit its legal effect. In exchange, the Administration said it would supply a private letter from Secretary of State Warren Christopher reaffirming U.S. policy toward Taiwan and would approve a series of specific applications for arms exports to Taiwan.

“This was a reasonable compromise,” one senior Administration official said. “It doesn’t change U.S. policy toward China, but it reassures American supporters of Taiwan.”

U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have been a sensitive subject since 1979, when the United States established diplomatic relations with China and broke off its mutual defense treaty with Taipei. At the time, Washington and Beijing were unable to reach agreement about what should happen to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Both Taiwan and China consider these arms sales important, not only because of their effect on Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against any invasion from the mainland but also because the arms sales strengthen Taiwan’s hand in its dealings with China.

In August, 1982, the Ronald Reagan Administration reached agreement with China on a communique in which it promised to freeze arms sales to Taiwan at a maximum of about $820 million a year and to gradually reduce them over time.

This agreement immediately became one of the “three communiques” that the Chinese regime regularly calls the bedrock of relations between Washington and Beijing. The others were the communique signed by President Richard Nixon on his 1972 trip to China and the one signed by President Jimmy Carter in establishing diplomatic relations.

In 1992, in the midst of his reelection campaign, President George Bush opened the way for a major new arms sale to Taiwan--of F-16 fighter planes that Taiwan’s Nationalist government had been trying to buy for more than a decade.

At that time, China protested angrily that sale of the planes violated the 1982 communique. But Bush Administration officials took the position that the United States was still honoring the 10-year-old agreement. They said the sale of the F-16s was legal under the communique because they were merely replacing older warplanes that Taiwan could no longer use.

The F-16 sale did, however, serve as a signal to the U.S. defense industry that Washington might be prepared to lift some of the restrictions on arms sales to Taiwan.

Murkowski’s amendment would have said that a 1979 law, the Taiwan Relations Act, which requires the United States to help in Taiwan’s defense, supersedes any agreement reached by the executive branch. That would have gutted the 1982 U.S.-China communique.

After negotiations, Murkowski and Senate colleagues agreed to change this provision from a law, which is binding, to a “sense of Congress” resolution that does not have the force of law. They also changed the language to say the law requiring American support of Taiwan is “primary over” any communique, wording that leaves the 1982 agreement in effect.

To obtain these concessions, Administration officials had to pledge that Christopher would send a private letter adopting the language Congress passed. Administration officials insisted that Christopher’s letter merely restates a legal truism that laws of Congress take precedence over agreements reached by the executive branch.

Albert Lin, a spokesman for Taiwan, said the measure passed by Congress “helps to ensure that we can maintain adequate defense capability. . . . We appreciate the concern of our American friends for our security, as well as the initiative and goodwill they have expressed through this amendment.”

Some industry sources suggested that the deal between the Administration and Congress also could open the way for other new military sales to Taiwan, such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles and new torpedoes. “It’s a whole new ballgame,” one defense industry official said.

Administration officials insisted they had approved only the military electronics for Taiwan’s ships and minimized the importance of this transaction. “It’s not like selling them the B-1 bomber,” one senior U.S. official said.