WASHINGTON (AFP) - 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 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 Keating was the first official to confirm the freeze following reports last month that senior US officials were holding up an 11 billion dollar 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.
Keating said while Washington was committed to the defense of Taiwan, as enshrined in US law, "We want to do nothing to destabilize 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.
Taiwan has been governed separately since the end of a 1949 civil war, but Beijing has repeatedly threatened to invade should the island declare formal independence.
Washington has been the island's leading arms supplier, despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
The last time the Bush administration notified the US Congress about potential arms sales to Taiwan was on November 9, 2007, for a Patriot-2 missile deal worth 939 million dollars. But Taipei wanted the newer Patriot-3 missiles.
On September 21, the Pentagon notified its intention to sell the island 12 P-3C Orion anti-submarine warfare aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles worth several billion dollars.
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 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," 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 Tkacik, now with the conservative Heritage Foundation.
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