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WASHINGTON - THE United States has frozen arms sales to Taiwan following concerns expressed by China and amid warming ties between Beijing and Taipei, top US military commander in Asia Admiral Timothy Keating said on Wednesday.
The decision was made after having 'reconciled Taiwan's military posture, China's current military posture and strategy that indicates there is no pressing, compelling need for, at this moment, arms sales to Taiwan,' he said.
There had been no 'significant' arms sales from the United States to Taiwan 'in relatively recent times,' he acknowledged at a forum of the Washington based Heritage Foundation. 'It is administration policy,' he said.
Taiwan experts said Mr Keating was the first official to confirm the freeze following reports last month that senior US officials were holding up an US$11 billion (S$14.8 billion) arms package and the delivery of dozens of F-16 jets for Taiwan, possibly until President George W. Bush leaves office.
The Bush administration must give Congress formal notification for the approval of weapons sales to foreign governments, but the Washington Post recently cited unnamed sources saying Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had frozen the deal.
The reports appeared as China and Taiwan began their first formal talks in a decade in June, the latest step in a rapprochement that is likely to see the long-time rivals quickly deepen trade and tourism ties.
Mr Keating said while Washington was committed to the defence of Taiwan, as enshrined in US law, 'We want to do nothing to destabilise the (Taiwan) Strait,' which separates the Taiwan and the mainland.
'The Chinese have made clear to me their concern over any arms sales to Taiwan,' he said when asked whether Beijing had asked Washington to review military ties with Taiwan.
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who took over from independence-leaning Chen Shui-bian earlier this year, said last week that the island needed to secure defensive weapons from the United States despite warming ties with China.
Some US experts said Washington's freeze left Mr Ma with 'no cover' in his talks to boost ties with Beijing.
'Ma has urgently requested the United States to provide these arms in the hope that they would reinforce an impression of a strong US-Taiwan security relationship and thereby encourage China to accept the island as it is, not as a part of China,' Mr John Tkacik, a former State Department China expert, told AFP.
'But the Bush administration, by ignoring Taiwan's request, ensures that Taiwan deals with Beijing from a position of weakness,' he said.
'It's clear to me that the Bush administration has abandoned all commitments to defend Taiwan's democracy,' said Mr Tkacik, now with the conservative Heritage Foundation. -- AFP
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