US should continue arms sales to Taiwan - former official

14.11.2012 Pacific Sentinel

Washington should continue arms sales to Taipei to give Taiwan confidence in negotiations with China, a former US deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs said Monday.

There is a correlation between arms sales and improved cross-strait relations, Randall Schriver said at an international conference in Taipei to analyze the ongoing power transition in China, rebutting assumptions that US arms sales could become an impediment in future Taiwan-China relations.

US F-16 sales to Taiwan in 1992 were followed a few months later by the 1992 Consensus and a US$6.4 billion arms package to Taiwan in 2010 was followed a few months after that by the signing of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, Schriver said.

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