-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Sunday, 15 April 2001 11:44 (ET) Taiwan leader presses for weapons By FAITH HUNG TAIPEI, Taiwan, April 15 (UPI) -- In a meeting with a delegation of U.S. Senators, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian asked the United States to approve the sales of advanced defense weapons. Chen told Republican Senators Phil Gramm of Texas, Bob Bennett of Utah, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Mike Crapo of Idaho that the weapons are necessary to help the island preserve a military balance with China. "The cross-strait security not only serves the interests of Taiwan, but those of the United States," he told the delegation, which visited Taipei after an original scheduled visit to mainland China was nixed due to the stand-off between Beijing and Washington. "China could achieve air and sea superiority over Taiwan by 2005," warned Chen. There are growing fears that Taiwan may not be able to get the weapons it wants as the Bush Administration now takes a more cautious attitude after the spy plane collision or Beijing uses the incident to pressure Washington, observes said. Several senators and representatives said Sunday that the recent incident over the spy plane has boosted Taiwan's chances for getting sophisticated weapons. The most significant part of the arms deal is destroyers equipped with the Aegis radar system, which tracks missiles, aircraft, ships and submarines and programs weapons to hit them. Taiwan is also seeking to buy Apache attack helicopters, an advanced Patriot anti-missile system known as PAC-3, and submarines. A decision by the Bush administration is slated for later this month about whether to sell Taiwan the weapons. China and Taiwan split in 1949. Since then, the Chinese leaders have insisted Taiwan is part of the mainland that can't be separated. -- Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om