Past US Policy of Arms Sales, Tech Transfer to Taiwan Affirmed

Michael SmartMedia Relations [email protected]

Past US Policy of Arms Sales, Tech Transfer to Taiwan Affirmed

PROVO, Utah - As the Bush administration ponders the sale of Aegis-equipped destroyers to Taiwan, a new study published in the "Journal of Contemporary China" affirms the United States' policy of arms sales and technology transfer to Taiwan. With more limited technology transfer to mainland China, the research concludes, the United States has been able to maintain Taiwan's security without straining Washington-Beijing relations to the breaking point.

The study was conducted by Eric Hyer, a political science professor at Brigham Young University, and Zhang Qingmin, a professor at China's Foreign Affairs College, and illuminates issues salient during the fallout of the recent spy plane incident.

"The Bush administration will make clear that the United States will continue to make arms sales to Taiwan, and the quantity and quality of those arms will be determined by China's own actions and attitude toward Taiwan," says Hyer. "Bush will delay the sale of the destroyers, though, because that technological leap is enough to upset the Chinese."

Hyer, who lived in Taiwan for three years and later earned a Ph.D. from Columbia, believes the Bush team will have to strike a delicate balance between the pro-Taiwan lobby in the Republican-controlled Congress and Chinese sensitivities about larger issues like trade, North Korea and Middle East peace.

"Arms sales to Taiwan fit into a larger framework of issues," he says. "Neither side will allow the Taiwan matter to make or break relations between the United States and China."

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