The US has decided not to sell its F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan because they fear upsetting China, said Taiwan’s parliament speaker Wang Jin-Pyng, in an interview with news agency Reuters.
Taiwan was eager to buy 66 advanced F-16s for $US 4.9 billion, but the deal was broken in July last year and, according to the official, there’s little hope that it’ll be reviewed in 2009.
“The US doesn’t want to give them to us,” Wang said. “They wouldn’t name a price. It’s mainly because mainland China would oppose the sale.
Taiwan is in desperate need of new jetfighters as its current fleet is outdated, with most of the planes having been acquired at least 16 years ago. They firs asked the US for new F-16s back in 2007.
China claimed sovereignty over Taiwan in 1949 and vowed to bring the island under its rule by force if necessary, which is why they strongly oppose all US arms sales to Taiwan.
Despite improvements in China-Taiwan relations, deep military distrust between the two sides remains.
The Obama administration is now looking to improve relations with China, as it is Asia’s economic powerhouse. The two countries are major trade partners and have common interests in fighting terrorism and preventing nuclear proliferation.
The original source of this article is Russia Today
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]
www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the
copyright owner.
