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Beijing warns
¡¥madmen¡¦ in Washington on F-16s
By J. Michael Cole / Staff Reporter
An editorial in the People¡¦s Daily yesterday adopted unusually bellicose
language to ¡§warn¡¨ Washington against selling advanced weapons to Taiwan,
pointing to the ¡§disastrous price¡¨ that would be paid if Washington proceeds
with the sale.
¡§At present, some madmen on Capitol Hill are making an uproar about
consolidating and expanding this cancer,¡¨ the paper said, referring to the
Taiwan Relations Act, which requires the US to sell Taiwan the military
equipment it needs for its self-defense.
Calling US politicians who support continued arms sales to Taiwan ¡§wildly
arrogant,¡¨ the editorial said Sino-US relations would find themselves in a
predicament if the sale were allowed to proceed.
US Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, has been one of the main proponents of the
sale of the 66 F-16C/Ds, which Taipei has been requesting from the US since 2007
and which is the main focus of Beijing¡¦s warnings.
In April, US Senator Richard Lugar, top Republican on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham
Clinton urging the Obama administration to make the F-16C/Ds available to
Taiwan.
The letter warns that a failure to do so would leave its ally with ¡§no credible
air-to-air capability.¡¨
Forty-five senators, led by US Senate Taiwan Caucus co-chairs Robert Menendez
and James Inhofe, and 181 members of the US House of Representatives have signed
letters calling on US President Barack Obama¡¦s administration to release the
F-16s to Taiwan.
The Obama administration is expected to announce its final decision on the sale
on Oct. 1, which coincides with national day in the People¡¦s Republic of China.
Beijing has long said that the sale of F-16C/Ds was a ¡§red line¡¨ that should not
be crossed, warning that it would severely undermine relations between Beijing
and Washington.
¡§Some people want to turn back the tide of history, but they must be clear about
the disastrous price they will have to pay,¡¨ the editorial said.
¡§A word of advice for those muddleheaded congressmen: Don¡¦t go too far, don¡¦t
play with fire,¡¨ it said.
The editorial was signed ¡§Zhong Sheng,¡¨ or ¡§voice of China,¡¨ which has been used
in the past to reflect the views of the senior party leadership.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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