http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091210/wl_nm/us_taiwan_usa_china_2
China says opposed to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan
By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING (Reuters) – China warned against any new U.S. arms transfers to Taiwan on Thursday, a day after an Obama administration official said Washington was weighing fresh sales to the disputed island, including submarines.
"We are firmly opposed to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular briefing.
"Our position is consistent in this regard," she said, adding that communiques issued before by the two countries established that the United States should not sell weapons to Taiwan.
Washington says it is entitled to do so, and that a U.S. law spells out its obligations to help self-ruled and democratic Taiwan defend itself.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is moving toward possible new arms sales to Taiwan, including design work on diesel-electric submarines, Robert Kovac, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for defense trade, told Reuters in Washington on Wednesday.
New submarines could help challenge any Chinese seaborne assault on the island, which Beijing reserves the right to take by force if it formally declares independence.
The arms sales could cast a shadow over what had been rapidly improving relations between Taiwan and China following the election of Ma Ying-jeou as Taiwan president in 2008.
Since taking office Ma has eased tension with China by brokering negotiations on trade deals, the next round of which are scheduled to take place in the central Taiwan city of Taichung later in December.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang said that not selling weapons to Taiwan would "maintain the sound development of Sino-U.S. relations, as well as cross-strait relations."
A spokesman from Taiwan's defense ministry declined to comment, saying they had yet to received any formal notification from the U.S. about new arms sales.
Any sale is also likely to add to strains in China-U.S. ties, a relationship President Barack Obama said during a visit to China last month was increasingly important in global affairs.
China strongly opposes any arms sales to Taiwan as interference in its domestic affairs.
Beijing has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to the island.
Kovac said a proposed sale of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, to Taiwan was progressing toward notification to the U.S.
In addition, the Obama administration is weighing more sales to Taiwan of Patriot "Advanced Capability" missiles known as PAC-3 as well as an operations deal for the "Po Sheng" (Broad Victory) command and control program, Kovac said.
(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim, and Baker Li in Taipei; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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