U.S. arms sales to Taiwan: Implications for the future of the sino-U.S. relationship

Asian Survey

Volumn 40, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 622-640

  McClaran, John P ^a,b  

^a MONTEREY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARMS TRADE; DEFENSE INDUSTRY; GEOPOLITICS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS;

TAIWAN; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0033785125     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3021185     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. This was made quite clear by the PRC government in its latest White Paper on Taiwan. See "The One-China Principle and the Taiwan Issue: Text of PRC White Paper," Xinhua, February 21, 2000, in Foreign Broadcast and Information Service (FBIS), Daily Report/China (DR/C).
2. An excellent study of Taiwan's procurement process can be found in Michael D. Swaine, Taiwan's National Security Defense Policy and Weapons Procurement Process (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand National Defense Research Institute, 1999), pp. 61-71. See also Kuan Chu-Cheng, "A Study of U.S. Arms Sales and the Transfer of Defense Technology to the Navy of the Republic of China (Taiwan)" (M.A. thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif., 1990).
3. An excellent study of Taiwan's procurement process can be found in Michael D. Swaine, Taiwan's National Security Defense Policy and Weapons Procurement Process (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand National Defense Research Institute, 1999), pp. 61-71. See also Kuan Chu-Cheng, "A Study of U.S. Arms Sales and the Transfer of Defense Technology to the Navy of the Republic of China (Taiwan)" (M.A. thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif., 1990).
4. Maubo Chang, "U.S. to Blame for Taiwan's Arms Procurement Failings," Taiwan Central News Agency, January 25, 2000.
5. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Arms Control, World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Arms Control, 1998), Table 3.
6. Ibid. See country rank by variable on Table 3 under "Arms Imports."
7. U.S. DOD, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (Washington, D.C.: DOD, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1996).
8. "Procurement, Taiwan," in Jane's Sentinel Security Assessment: China and Northeast Asia Update 5, London, Jane's Information Group, September 21, 1999, pp. 1-2.
9. U.S. DOD, Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), DSCA (Facts Book) Foreign Military Sales, Foreign Military Construction Sales and Military Assistance Facts (Washington, D.C.: DSCA, Deputy for Financial Management Comptroller, September 1998), pp. 1-2.
10. Jane's Information Group, "Procurement Taiwan," pp. 1-7.
11. "U.S. Tentatively Agrees to Sell AIM-120 Missiles to Taiwan," Taiwan Central News Agency, December 7, 1999.
12. Swaine, Taiwan's National Security Defense Policy. See also Wang Chiung-hua, "Taiwan Defense Minister on Improving Army," Taipei chung-yang jih-pao, January 24, 2000.
13. Swaine, Taiwan's National Security Defense Policy. See also Wang Chiung-hua, "Taiwan Defense Minister on Improving Army," Taipei chung-yang jih-pao, January 24, 2000.
14. China claims its threat to use force is actually directed at foreign powers and forces of subversion. See "Jiang Zemin Congress Report," Xinhua, September 21, 1997, in FBIS, DR/C, September 23, 1997.
15. Among others, the Chinese cite Article 2 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which defines a treaty as "an international agreement concluded between states in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments whatever its particular designation." See Liu Wenzong, "The Taiwan Relations Act Is the Main Obstacle to the Development of Sino-U.S. Relations," International Strategic Studies (China Institute for Strategic Studies), no. 3 (serial no. 53) (July 1999), p. 38.
16. Patrick Tyler, Six Presidents and China: A Great Wall (New York: PublicAffairs, 1999), pp. 227-85.
17. Arthur Waldron, "Back to Basics: The U.S. Perspective on Taiwan-PRC Relations," in Crisis in the Taiwan Strait, eds. James R. Lilly and Chuck Downs (Washington, D.C.: National Defense University Press, 1997), p. 338.
18. Tyler, Six Presidents, pp. 287-340. See also Kenneth Allen and Eric McVadon, China's Foreign Military Relations, Harry L Stimson Center Report, no. 32 (Washington, D.C.: Harry L Stimson Center, October, 1999), p. 72.
19. Tyler, Six Presidents, pp. 287-340. See also Kenneth Allen and Eric McVadon, China's Foreign Military Relations, Harry L Stimson Center Report, no. 32 (Washington, D.C.: Harry L Stimson Center, October, 1999), p. 72.
20. Allen and McVadon, China's Foreign Military Relations.
21. This latter figure had been the high water mark of sales under the Carter administration in 1979. Tyler, Six Presidents, p. 332.
22. John Garver, "The PLA as an Interest Group in Chinese Foreign Policy," in Chinese Military Modernization, eds. C. Dennison Lane, Mark Weisenbloom, and Dimon Liu (Washington D.C.: Keegan Paul International, 1996), pp. 210-38.
23. Allen S. Whiting, "The PLA and China's Threat Perceptions," in China's Military in Transition, ed. David Shambaugh (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 332-52.
24. John Garver, Face Off: China, the U.S., and Taiwan's Democratization (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997).
25. Susan Lawrence, "China Doctrine of Deterrence," Far Eastern Economic Review, October 14, 1999.
26. James C. Mulvenon and Richard H. Yang, eds., The People's Liberation Army in the Information Age (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand National Security Research Division, 1999).
27. U.S. Department of Defense, The Security Situation in the Taiwan Strait, Report to Congress Pursuant to the FY99 Appropriations Bill (Washington, D.C.: Department of Defense, February 26, 1999).
28. Douglas Porch, "The Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1996: Strategic Implications for the U.S. Navy," Naval War College Review 52:3 (Summer 1999).
29. "The One-China Principle and the Taiwan Issue."
30. Paul Crock, "Will China Bashers in Congress Shower Taiwana with Arms?" Business Week, June 7, 1999, p. 55.
31. "Taiwan Two States Crisis," Taiwan Weekly Business Bulletin Political Report, July 22, 1999.
32. "The One-China Principle and the Taiwan Issue."
33. U.S. Department of State et al., New U.S. Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, February 27, 1995, reprinted by DSCA on the World Wide Web at [accessed June 30, 2000].
34. Paul Mann, "Export Race Tightens Amid Slowing Arms Trade," Aviation Week and Space Technology, September 7, 1998, p. 181; U.S. DOD, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (1997); DOD, DSCA, Deputy for Financial Management Comptroller, DSCA (Facts Book) Foreign Military Sales, pp. 1-2; and Tim Smart, "Fighting for Foreign Sales: Arms Firms Dependent on Deals Abroad," Washington Post, February 17, 1999.
35. Paul Mann, "Export Race Tightens Amid Slowing Arms Trade," Aviation Week and Space Technology, September 7, 1998, p. 181; U.S. DOD, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (1997); DOD, DSCA, Deputy for Financial Management Comptroller, DSCA (Facts Book) Foreign Military Sales, pp. 1-2; and Tim Smart, "Fighting for Foreign Sales: Arms Firms Dependent on Deals Abroad," Washington Post, February 17, 1999.
36. Paul Mann, "Export Race Tightens Amid Slowing Arms Trade," Aviation Week and Space Technology, September 7, 1998, p. 181; U.S. DOD, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (1997); DOD, DSCA, Deputy for Financial Management Comptroller, DSCA (Facts Book) Foreign Military Sales, pp. 1-2; and Tim Smart, "Fighting for Foreign Sales: Arms Firms Dependent on Deals Abroad," Washington Post, February 17, 1999.
37. Paul Mann, "Export Race Tightens Amid Slowing Arms Trade," Aviation Week and Space Technology, September 7, 1998, p. 181; U.S. DOD, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (1997); DOD, DSCA, Deputy for Financial Management Comptroller, DSCA (Facts Book) Foreign Military Sales, pp. 1-2; and Tim Smart, "Fighting for Foreign Sales: Arms Firms Dependent on Deals Abroad," Washington Post, February 17, 1999.
38. Smart, "Fighting for Foreign Sales."
39. Paul Crock, "Will China Bashers in Congress Shower Taiwan with Arms?"