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Hu's visit to US may delay sale of F-16
fighters
TENSIONS EASING: US media said the Obama administration
likely also assured China it would not embarrass it by declaring it a currency
manipulator
By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Sunday, Apr 04, 2010, Page 3
The decision by Chinese President Hu Jintao (JÀAÀÜ) to attend a nuclear security
summit in Washington later this month may mean further delays for Taiwan's
request to buy advanced F-16 fighters.
It also explains why US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg went out of
his way earlier this week to stress that the US did not support independence for
Taiwan and why US President Barack Obama ¡§reaffirmed¡¨ Washington's ¡§one China¡¨
policy when he received new Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui (±i·~¹E) on Monday.
The US was smoothing the road for Hu's two-day visit and for a possible longer
official trip to the US later this summer, which would be in return for Obama¡¦s
Beijing visit in November last year.
As widely reported by the US press, Obama has probably also given Hu private
assurances that he will not be embarrassed by a US Treasury report due on April
15 that could declare China to be a currency manipulator.
That report is now likely to be delayed indefinitely.
By way of return, China may have been persuaded to allow the yuan to appreciate
against the dollar and may cooperate with a US drive for more sanctions on Iran.
Both the Washington Post and the New York Times said there had been speculation
that China would send a lower-level delegation to the April 12 to April 13
nuclear summit to show its displeasure with Washington over arms sales to
Taiwan.
The newspapers reported that US-China strains ¡X triggered by the arms sales to
Taiwan ¡X were now easing.
This in turn may affect Taiwan¡¦s request to buy 66 F-16C/D fighters ¡X a request
supported by many in Washington and currently being considered by the White
House.
If that sale were to be approved, it would severely damage US-China relations at
a time when Obama is doing everything possible to improve them.
At the very least, a decision on the fighter sale is now likely to be postponed
until well after Hu¡¦s potential summer visit.
A new air power report is also due to go to Congress in the late summer, and it
is unlikely that the Obama administration will move before the report has been
studied.
¡§No one expects a decision in the next several months,¡¨ US Taiwan Business
Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers said.
The F-16 production line is currently scheduled to run until 2013.
Orders to keep the line running beyond that time must be made in the next 12 to
18 months to ensure continuity ¡X otherwise the line will start to close down.
No new orders means that contractors will start switching manufacturing to other
areas once current orders end, Hammond-Chambers said.
Reopening the line would be prohibitively expensive.
¡§It is going to make this entire discussion academic if the issue continues to
be punted into the future,¡¨ Hammond-Chambers said.
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