Democratic, Republican lawmakers back F-16 sales to Taiwan
F-16 fighter jets
Congress should move quickly with an $8billionsaleof F-16fighter jets toTaiwanas the self-ruled island faces pressure from China's increased military presence in the region, leading USDemocraticandRepublicanlawmakerssaid on Friday.
China denounced the plannedsale, one of the biggest yet by the United States toTaiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province. It warned of unspecified "countermeasures."
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, aRepublican, welcomed the proposedsaleof the Lockheed Martin Corp F-16V jets.
"These fighters are critical to improvingTaiwan's ability to defend its sovereign airspace, which is under increasing pressure from the People’s Republic of China," he said in a statement.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jim Inhofe, and fellowRepublicanSenator John Cornyn saidTaiwan"remains an important pillar of security and stability" in the region.
Thesaleof the jets would "deter aggression given Beijing's increasing assertiveness and military buildup," they said in a joint statement.
Similarly, theDemocraticchairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, and the panel's rankingRepublican, Michael McCaul, said in a joint statement that the deal "sends a strong message" about US commitment to security and democracy in the region.
Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, bothRepublicans, also issued statementsbacking the deal.
Washington has no formal ties with self-ruled anddemocraticTaiwanbut is bound by law to help provide it with the means to defend itself.
It is the main arms supplier toTaiwanand there is broad support for this in Congress.
China has never renounced the use of force to bringTaiwanunder its control and has repeatedly denounced US armssales to the island.
Friday's New York Times quoted unnamed US officials as saying that the Trump administration, which is engaged in a major trade war with China, was moving forward with thesale and said the State Department gave informal notification of the plan to the House and Senate foreign affairs committees on Thursday.
The paper said once those committees gave the go-ahead, which would probably come within days or weeks, there would follow a formal notification to Congress, which would trigger 30 days for objections.
The State Department and the White House declined to comment. China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing had made solemn representations to the United States over the plannedsale.
China's state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Hua as saying that it was a serious violation of the "one-China principle," under which Washington recognise Beijing and not Taipei, and undermined China's sovereignty and security interests.
Hua urged the US to stop armssales to and military contact withTaiwan, otherwise, the Chinese side would "certainly take countermeasures," Xinhua said.
After the United States approvedsales of tanks and Raytheon Co's anti-aircraft Stinger missiles toTaiwanin July, China said it was "ready to go to war" if people "try to split Taiwanfrom the country."
Beijing said it would impose sanctions on US companies involved in any deals.
On Thursday,Taiwanunveiled its largest defence spending increase in more than a decade, to T$411.3billion($13.11billion.)