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| Tuesday, 21 December 2004 |
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US to post military officers in Taiwan - Jane's TAIPEI, Monday (Reuters) The United States will post an army officer at its de facto embassy in Taiwan for the first time in 25 years, reversing a longstanding policy of using civilian defence contractors, said Jane's Defence Weekly. The move, which the defence journal said was tentatively scheduled for mid-2005, is likely to upset China as it would signal closer military ties between the United States and the democratic island that Beijing claims as a renegade province. The United States cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 and switched recognition to China, but it remains the island's biggest arms supplier and has treaty obligations to help Taipei defend itself. U.S.-Taiwan relations are handled on the island by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which declined to comment on the report. AIT spokeswoman Dana Shell Smith confirmed there were no active duty U.S. military officers at the AIT in Taipei. Jane's said the U.S. Department of Defense would gradually send active duty military personnel to replace civilian contractors at the AIT, starting with the deployment of a U.S. army officer to head a Technical Liaison Section in mid-2005. The change results from a bill passed by the U.S. Congress in 2002 allowing for the posting of military personnel to Taiwan if it is deemed to be "in the national interest of the United States", Jane's said in an article to be published on Wednesday. The magazine sent an advance copy of the report to media representatives in Taipei at the weekend. The U.S. Department of Defense has hesitated to post military personnel to the island because of concern over China's reaction and resistance by some AIT contract employees, the journal said, quoting an unidentified source. "Washington has since become less concerned over any potential protest from Beijing amid growing unease over China's military ambitions in the Asia Pacific region," Jane's said.. |
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