HONG KONG —

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Wednesday the United States is committed to defending Taiwan, but he made no mention about a months-long freeze on sales of major weapons systems to Taiwan. ‘‘There has not been any recent sales of arms, but there had been in the past and there may well be in the future,’’ Negroponte told reporters in Hong Kong, on the last leg of a nine-day Asia tour.
 
‘‘We are committed to conducting defense relations with Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act and that continues to be our policy,’’ he said. The U.S. State Department has approved a license for Honeywell International Corp to provide Taiwan with $1.1 billion worth of engines for Taiwan’s Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighter, but the deal was not a government-to-government deal, it was reported last week.

© 2008 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

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4 Comments

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  adaydream at 07:16 AM JST - 18th September

  We'll defend you.

  No we'll follows China's lead.

  Oh, we'll protect you.

  Oh, it's up to China.

  Oh gosh we're committed to protecting you.

  We have been so wishy-washy on protecting Taiwan for years now.

  Today we'll sell them arms.

  Then there is an arms embargo.

  We treat them like red-headed stepchildren. < :-)

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  OssanULTRA at 07:34 AM JST - 18th September

  We have been so wishy-washy on protecting Taiwan for years now.

  Wishy-washy? China has had 59 years to take their "rogue province" but has not been able to do so, solely because Taiwan is protected by the United States.

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  CavemanLawyer at 10:09 AM JST - 18th September

  Taiwan gud. South Ossetia bayud. M'kay?

  It seems America took the hippocritic oath when it comes to helping sick countries.

  --Cirroc

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  sdmsec at 01:21 PM JST - 18th September

  Never mind, Taiwan. We're broke.

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