Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Sunday, January 3, 2010 12:30 am TWN, CNA

Sponsors
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.

U.S. urged not to retaliate against Taiwan over beef issue

Hammond-Chambers argued that if it is true, “this sort of linkage directly violates the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) , which clearly states that 'the (U.S.) President and the Congress shall determine the nature and quantity of such defense articles and services based solely upon their judgment of the (defense) needs of Taiwan.”

“If the Obama administration balks at providing replacement F-16 fighters Taiwan, China will have won a major victory in the Taiwan (issue) without firing a shot,” he warned, saying that the updating of Taiwan's F-16 fleet was a “material response” to Beijing's own fighter modernization.

Stating his belief that the “strong support for Taiwan strengthens both our own and Taiwan's standing with China,” Hammond Chambers listed in his report four priorities the business group has outlined as its work for 2010.

The priorities include that the council will argue for a full resumption of TIFA meetings without preconditions and with an agenda that identifies areas of liberalization that can — in some way — counter China's efforts to challenge U.S. economic interests in Taiwan.

The council will also press for an end to the U.S. administration's habit of notifying Congress of its decision to sell arms to Taiwan, as a package, instead of making one-by-one notifications on weapons that it deems ready to be sold to Taiwan. Congress has the power to stop the sales.

“Packaging” of arms sales undermines U.S. resolve to help Taiwan defend itself and significantly weakens Taiwan's defense modernization, Hammond-Chambers said.

The council will also support the acceptance of a Letter of Request for 66 F-16s to replace Taiwan's aging F-5s and Mirage 2000s and to offer some material response to China's ongoing investment in fourth generation fighters such as the J 10.

And the council will support the resumption of visits to Taiwan by U.S. Cabinet officials to promote U.S. economic interests on the island.

The business group represents many companies doing business with Taiwan, including top arms supplier Lockheed Martin, Boeing Co. and Raytheon Co.

According to a report by Reuters citing Hammond-Chambers, the council sees the sale of updated F-16s to Taiwan as a top priority in the bilateral relationship in 2010 and “will work with the Obama administration to achieve this goal.”

1|2