The weapons sell that has China wee-weed up

Bill Gertz:

Included in the Obama administration's latest arms package for Taiwan will be authorization for a joint U.S.-Taiwan feasibility study on bolstering air power against the threats to the island posed by Chinese missiles and aircraft, according to U.S. officials.

The administration put off actual sales of newer F-16s, but if the study, which will be conducted rapidly, determines that the jets are needed, they will be authorized in the coming months, said officials familiar with the arms deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The current package, worth several billion dollars, augments an earlier arms offer worth $6.5 billion that was announced in October 2008.

The latest arms package includes 60 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, air defense communications equipment and additional Patriot PAC-3 missile defenses, according to congressional and administration officials who said an announcement on the package is imminent.

Support for helping the Taiwanese military to build eight diesel electric submarines is not included in the package, the officials said.

The Pentagon considered authorizing the submarine feasibility study to examine whether they should be built in Taiwan or bought from a foreign supplier in Europe. The submarines could cost as much as $4 billion.

A Taiwan defense official has said the Black Hawks were a more urgent need than the 30 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters approved in 2008, since the Black Hawks can be used for military and humanitarian operations.

...

None of these weapons could be considered an offensive threat to China. What China objects to is that Taiwan would have greater capacity to resist aggression by China. Its desire to incorporate Taiwan into its territory is emotional more than practical. It wants to impose its control freak government over the people on Taiwan. It seems to think that now is the time to do that. It has also gotten goofy over Tibet because many of the people there do not want to be part of China. It is also seeing resistance western China. Adding another unhappy group of people would not seem to be in their interest.

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