China Protests U.S. Arms Offer to Taiwan

China lashed out Tuesday at the U.S. decision to sell the largest arms package in a decade to Taiwan and warned that it reserved the right to take retaliatory action.

Only hours later, the Bush administration formally presented the arms offer, which includes four destroyers, eight submarines and a dozen aircraft, to a delegation from Taiwan.

Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Yang Jiechi delivered a letter of protest to the State Department after Foreign Ministry officials in Beijing warned that the sale would add “fresh damage” to a relationship already suffering after a standoff this month that followed the midair collision of a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet.

“If the U.S. disregards China’s solemn representations, it would be a grave violation of China’s sovereignty . . . and would increase tension across the Taiwan Strait,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at a news conference here.

The White House rebuffed the protests and said its decision was based in part on China’s deployment of about 300 missiles aimed at Taiwan.

“The best way to address this is for China to take fewer actions, rather than more, in terms of its military presence across the strait from Taiwan so that there is less of a threat to Taiwan,” White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said.

While the U.S. views relations with China as “at all times very important,” the administration also has an obligation under the Taiwan Relations Act to help the island protect itself, Fleischer said.

The annual U.S. arms sale offer to the Taiwanese delegation, made during a three-hour meeting at National Defense University in Washington, sends a strong signal to China about the U.S. commitment to the island. However, the offer was less than Taiwan had requested.

“It signals that China’s protests have been noted, but so have its military deployments,” said Robert L. Suettinger of the Washington office of Rand Corp., a public policy research group.

The administration’s decision on what to offer Taiwan does not appear to have been greatly affected by the standoff earlier this month over the U.S. spy plane and its 24-member crew held in China. Although the crew members returned to the U.S. on April 12, Washington is still trying to persuade Beijing to return the plane, which was damaged in the collision with the jet fighter. The Chinese aircraft crashed, and its pilot was killed.

“It’s not a reaction to the plane standoff. This is an objective deal that would have happened in any case,” Suettinger said.

The administration did not respond to the standoff by acceding to Taiwan’s request to purchase four modern destroyers equipped with sophisticated Aegis radar systems. Instead, Washington deferred a decision on selling the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, leaving such a deal as potential future leverage while not openly provoking Beijing.

Yet both U.S. and Chinese analysts warned that the offer of diesel submarines could further sour relations.

The submarines would significantly boost Taiwan’s capabilities in the seas, an area where China has counted on superiority. In the past, the U.S. has declined to offer submarines because such sales would cross a long-standing Chinese line against providing the island with offensive weapons.

“The submarine has a dual-use system; it can be used for defensive and offensive purposes and would pose a big threat to the mainland,” said Shen Dingli, a defense expert at Fudan University in Shanghai. “In the mainland’s eyes, our submarine capability provides a deterrent against Taiwan’s tendency toward independence. If our deterrence is eroded, it will destabilize the cross-strait relationship.”

The Pentagon brushed aside Beijing’s concerns. The submarines “meet the legitimate defense needs of Taiwan,” said Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, the chief Pentagon spokesman.

But analysts warn that Beijing may be sufficiently alarmed to retaliate, possibly by selling major weaponry to countries that Washington does not want to see receive better arms.

“China reserves the right to take further actions,” Zhang, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said without elaboration.

Beijing views Taiwan as its territory and considers U.S. arms sales to the island as interference in China’s internal affairs.

Analysts predict that China will not engage in anything as serious as the military maneuvers conducted in 1996 to intimidate Taiwan. But they say the missile buildup will continue on the mainland across from Taiwan.

After the 1992 U.S. sale of F-16s to Taiwan, China sold M-11 missiles to Pakistan, which led the U.S. to impose limited sanctions on Beijing.

Taiwan’s acquisition of the submarines is by no means assured. The submarines involved are manufactured by other countries, and the U.S. would have to persuade either Germany or the Netherlands to build them at the risk of upsetting their own ties with China.

The Pentagon said it had not contacted any country to see if it is willing to produce them under license. But Germany has already indicated that it is not interested in the offer, U.S. analysts say.

“The United States made a careful commitment here. They said they’d only assist Taiwan in getting those submarines from a third party, either the Germans or the Dutch,” said Andrew Yang of the Chinese Council for Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital. “It does not really fulfill Taiwan’s [request] for those submarines.”

Without submarines or the Aegis system, the U.S. arms package is a mixed victory for the Taiwanese government, Yang said.

“They didn’t get entirely what they want, but they did secure a commitment from the United States reassuring Taiwan with continued support on defense,” he said.

For Beijing, the rejection of the Aegis request is an incomplete victory, because the Communist regime objects to any weapons sales to Taiwan.

Washington contends that the sales are needed for Taiwan to defend itself against its behemoth neighbor. It blames China for making such sales necessary by its buildup of about 50 additional missiles each year along the strait, experts said.

Beijing contends that its missile deployment is necessary to keep the island from declaring independence. It says the U.S. is to blame for keeping the arms race going by supplying Taipei with advanced weapons.

“It’s a vicious circle,” said Chu Shulong, an analyst with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations and a visiting fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu. “We have a dilemma, not just this year, but every year. Next spring the same thing will come [up] again.”

*

Chu reported from Beijing and Wright from Washington. Staff writer Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.