Thursday, August 25, 2011

Senator suggests amendment could force sale of F-16s

Feeling he may have been outmaneuvered in a previous deal with Secretary of State Clinton, John Cornyn is upping the ante with a new proposal

A US senator on Tuesday said that if US President Barack Obama’s administration refuses to sell Taiwan the 66 F-16C/D aircraft it is requesting, he would push to have Congress approve the sale instead.

Republican Senator John Cornyn, who made the remarks after visiting Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth aircraft assembly plant in his home state of Texas, said Taiwan needed the aircraft to deter China.

“Congress has traditionally delegated this authority to the president, but it can pass legislation allowing this sale to take place,” Cornyn told the Star-Telegram.

“There’s significant support in Congress for providing our allies [Taiwan] with these planes, and I believe, under the Taiwan Relations Act, we’re obligated to do so,” he was quoted as saying.

Cornyn said an amendment to the defense authorization bill to approve Taiwan’s request could be introduced in October or November.

My article, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amazing the chutzpah of the Americans, every time they invoke a law that they themselves had engendered to justify to China about the necessity to sell arms to Taiwan.

And hint that the law that required them to protect Taiwan was somehow dictated by the Holy Divine Trinity, that is, an undisputed order from some deity.