The Chinese-language DW News service on Sunday claimed that US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers had “confirmed” that the US would only promote upgrades to Taiwan’s ageing 144 F-16A/Bs and turn down efforts by Taipei to procure 66 more advanced F-16C/Ds.
I have it on good authority that this claim derives solely from a misreading of a press release by the council last week, in which Hammond-Chambers said an announcement by Washington that it would announce on Oct. 1 whether it will proceed with the sale of the F-16C/Ds gave the impression that it would not move forward with the sale. Rather than providing confirmation, this was nothing more than Hammond-Chambers’ assessment of the agreement reached between US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John Cornyn.
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