Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, has written a sharply worded report on weapons sales to Taiwan that is critical of President Barack Obama.
The trade group is a high-powered consortium of top defense contractors including Lockheed Martin, Boeing Co, and Raytheon Corporation. U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and John D. Rockefeller (D-VA) are honorary co-chairs of the council. Chairman of the Board is Paul Wolfowitz, former head of the World Bank.
In September, the Council held its eighth annual defense industry conference in Virginia to discuss force modernization. Hammond-Chambers described the confab as, "the most important private event reviewing US-Taiwan defense and security issues each year."
Featured speakers to the Council were Wallace Gregson, Assistant Secretary of Defense and David Shear, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. However, the two representatives of the Obama administration were unable to address the Council concerns.
Hammond-Chambers explains, "In light of the rapprochement between Taiwan and China, the Obama administration chose a cautious approach to any Taiwan-specific initiatives, and they in essence left the Bush administration's end-term policies in place."
"It is always important to note that we do not provide arms to Taiwan as a goal onto itself. The U.S. provides arms to Taiwan in response to China's force modernization efforts."
"China opposes all sales of arms to Taiwan irrespective of platform or capability, and thus our government only plays to the Chinese position when it delays notification or attempts to nuance requirements."
"If the Obama administration balks at providing replacement F-16 fighters to Taiwan, China will have won a major victory in the Taiwan Strait without firing a shot."
"After a year in office for the Obama administration, we are already seeing the Taiwan fault lines open." Hammond-Chambers says that Obama, "clearly views Taiwan as a barrier to U.S. interests in Asia."
The Council has made it a priority to see that 2010 brings a sales agreement for 66 new F-16 fighters to be sold to Taiwan.
Taiwan has been trapped in a six-decade limbo of undetermined national sovereignty following the Japanese surrender of the island after World War II that has left China claiming Taiwan belongs under the red flag and driving an arms race.
The District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals has urged President Obama to end the "strategic ambiguity" that has become a "political purgatory" for island residents. During Obama's recent trip to China he made it clear he has no intentions of disturbing the status quo.
For information on U.S. Taiwan Business Council:
http://www.us-taiwan.org/council
Source: Examiner.com - Taiwan Policy Examiner - Michael Richardson
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