- America's military package to Taiwan was thrown into
doubt yesterday when Germany and Holland said that they would not allow
Washington to sell their diesel-powered submarines to Taipei.
-
- With the United States no longer making its own
diesel-powered
vessels, the most likely source for a design and parts would be the two
European countries. But both immediately distanced themselves from the
arms sale for fear of upsetting Beijing.
-
- The sale of the eight submarines is the centrepiece of
the arms package to Taiwan. However, having relied on nuclear power for
the past four decades, the United States would either have to buy
the submarines
from a third party or build them for Taiwan under licence.
-
-
- Germany was swift to back away from involvement. The
Foreign Ministry said; "If an application was made to the
German government,
it would not be approved." A spokesman said Berlin did not
sell weapons
to Taiwan "on principle", and did not want to "increase
the tensions in the region".
-
- Germany has large and growing business
interests in mainland
China. Locally-made Volkswagens dominate the booming car market
and a German-built
high-speed "magnetic levitation" train is planned to link the
financial capital, Shanghai, with its new airport.
-
- In 1993, as premier of the western state of Lower Saxony,
Gerhard Schroder lobbied the then Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, to
waive national
security concerns and allow shipbuilders in his state to build submarines
for Taiwan. His plea was rejected.
-
- A spokesman for Mr Schroder, explaining the change of
heart by the Chancellor, said: "There is a difference, whether one
is regional prime minister or president, and feels responsible for jobs,
or if one is federal chancellor and has responsibility for the foreign
relations direction of an entire country,"
-
- Taiwan's only two modern submarines were bought from
Holland in the early 1980s. Taiwan tried unsuccessfully to buy several
more but the Dutch buckled under huge diplomatic and commercial pressure
from Beijing and agreed in 1984 not to sell any more arms to Taiwan.
-
-
- A spokesman for the Dutch Foreign Ministry said: "If
the US wants to go ahead and sell certain types of submarines to Taiwan
they would notify us and they haven't done that. They haven't asked us.
The question of whether we would comply with such an order is a
hypothetical
one. We have an arms export policy which says that we would not agree with
this. We don't think that policy will change."
-
-
- An American company is about to sign a deal to build
two Dutch-designed Moray-class submarines, of the type that
Taiwan is seeking,
for Egypt. If the deal goes ahead, they would be made by a shipyard in
Pascagoula, Mississippi, home town of one of Washington's most powerful
Taiwan lobbyists, the Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.
-
- Britain does not make diesel submarines, and the Foreign
Office last night said it knew of no British components in the arms to
be sold to Taiwan. Britain last year approved scores of licences for the
sale of military equipment to Taiwan, including components for
tanks, engines
and radar.
-
- But these are minor compared with arms sales to mainland
China, despite European Union sanctions imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen
Square massacre. These sanctions covered engines, radar, military
electronics
and small satellites. Britain has also signed micro-satellite deals with
China and, against Pentagon objections, is selling Rolls Royce engines
to power its Xian JH-7 fighter bombers.
-
- From: jr@rense.com X-Sender: sightings@mindspring.com
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 08:46:08 -0700 To: jneff@arkansas.net,
webmaster@sightings.com,
nde@ipa.net, jr@rense.com Subject: comment
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Rory Dawson
rorydawson2000@yahoo.com
5-1-1
-
- Hi Jeff,
-
- I'd like to respond to the article "Europeans vow
to stop US selling subs to Taiwan" posted on your site.
-
- The article fails to mention the
Swedish/Australian Collins
class (refer www.subcorp.com.au). That is another option which may possibly
be open to the Taiwanese, depending upon whether Australia is not
so clouded
by its own short-sighted appeasement of China to see the merits in having
a strongly armed Taiwan.
-
- Now that the long-suffering Australian taxpayer has paid
to have most of the kinks ironed out of these new subs, the Collins class
is a viable alternative. If you replace its current fire-control system
with a tried and tested American one these submarines would be
quite formidable.
If the Bush administration is serious about arming Taiwan in the face of
increasing threats by China (I'm not yet convinced that they are) then
pressure could be placed on the Australian government to export this class.
Given the current crop of socialists posing as conservatives (Howard's
Liberal government) and the even more socialist opposition (Beasley's Labor
Party) it would probably take US pressure to arrange such a sale.
-
- It is simply criminal to leave Taiwan exposed in the
face of an increasingly aggressive China. If Australia and the US are as
freedom loving as they claim to be they should help a natural ally and
put an end to this disgusting policy of appeasing China (and blatant arming
of same by certain US sell-outs who seem intent on fanning the flames of
war).
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