Taiwan: EgrAegis.(negative effects produced by arms sale to Taiwan)(Brief Article)

The administration's long-awaited decision on arms sales to Taiwan turned out to be a mixed bag. Some weapons were approved for sale, and some others were deferred, most significantly the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers bearing the Aegis missile-tracking system. A few very high- tech items were denied altogether.

The deferral of the Aegis sale is a serious error in judgment. The reasons given by the administration do not hold up under close examination. It is entirely proper for us to exercise caution about selling our most advanced equipment to foreign countries, and the derelictions of the previous administration in this regard are well known. The deferral of Aegis, however, was based not on these considerations, but on the arguments that deployment could anyway not take place until later in this decade and that Taiwan's military may not be capable of operating the system. There were some additional hints from the administration that the sale of Aegis is being held back as a sanction against future bad behavior by the Chinese.

If the Aegis system is so complex, then the more notice Taiwan has of its delivery, the better. It is not an item they could suddenly acquire and deploy in an emergency. That a nation as successful in high-tech manufacturing and software as Taiwan should not be able to summon the human skills to operate the system seems unlikely. Certainly they will not begin training their people until they know the sale is going to be approved. Aegis is entirely defensive; it poses no threat to China. If the Beijing leadership does not like our selling missile-tracking equipment to Taiwan, the solution is simple: Let them stop arraying missiles on their side of the Taiwan Strait.

In addition, the administration decided to end our annual review of arms sales to Taiwan, a further signal of misplaced sensitivity to the mainland's government.

"The balance which we think had started toward China's favor in a dangerous way, is righted," a "senior White House official" said ...