US praises China's reaction to arms deal with Taiwan

Oct 23, 2011, 12:49 GMT

Nusa Dua, Indonesia - US Defence Secretary Leon Penetta on Sunday praised China's mild response to the announcement in September of US weapons sales to Taiwan.

'We had given the Chinese a heads-up as to what was going to take place and in the end they handled it in a professional and diplomatic way,' Panetta said on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, where he was meeting counterparts from the Association of South-east Asian Nations.

The United States government put before Congress a proposal to sell Taiwan 5.3 billion dollars of upgrades for its 145 F-16s of the older A and B generation, which would get new radar and weapons systems.

Taiwan also repeated its request for 66 new C and D models of the F-16s. That deal has been on hold for years, as Washington is apparently wary of riling Beijing by arming its rival further.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun complained last month that US weapons sales to Taiwan would damage relations between Beijing and Washington.

Communist China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's forces and fled to the island.

Panetta said he was looking forward to visiting China as soon as possible.

'I feel pretty confident that we can build the kind of relationship that can not only improve the military-to-military relations but can also help improve the security of both countries,' he said.

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