BBC 01, 11:20 GMT 12:20 UK

China condemns Taiwan arms deal

Taiwan is being offered less advanced warships China has expressed serious concern over reports of a new US arms package for Taiwan, saying it strongly opposed the sale of sophisticated weapons to the island.

"China reserves the complete right to take further actions," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters.

The comments were the first official response from Beijing to the reported arms package offered by US President George W Bush to Taiwan.

It is one of the largest arms deals made to the island in a decade and includes warships and submarines - but not high-tech destroyers.

Mr Bush is reported to have approved the sale of four Kidd-class destroyers, along with several submarines and anti-submarine planes.

They are expected to be made available from 2003.

In noting this sale, Ms Zhang said: "China has always been seriously opposed to weapons sales to Taiwan and strongly opposed to such sophisticated weapons as the Kidd class destroyer, the diesel submarines and the P-3 plane."

Ms Zhang said that if the US disregarded China's "solemn representation, it would be a grave violation of China's sovereignty" and a "rude interference in China's internal affairs".

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland.

The BBC Beijing correspondent, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, says that, although China's initial response is robust, it is far from being hysterical.

He says the Chinese may be waiting for Washington to make a formal announcement before giving a full response, but the measured tone may also reflect relief that the arms package does not include the most sophisticated weapons Taiwan had been asking for.

No Aegis

In particular, reports from Washington say Mr Bush has rejected its request to buy American destroyers equipped with the state-of -the-art Aegis radar system.

Beijing had used even stronger language in expressing its objections to the possibility of such a sale.

Supplying Taiwan with the Aegis system could have seriously worsened Sino-US relations, already strained by the recent collision between an American spy plane and a Chinese jet.

In any case, the Pentagon says Taiwan does not have the necessary facilities to support such a sophisticated weapon.

But Mr Bush is said to have left open the possibility of future sales of the system if China continues to pose a military threat to the island.

Beijing fears the Aegis technology could eventually form part of a regional missile defence system that would provide a shield for Taiwan against China's growing arsenal of short-range ballistic missiles.

Support

Correspondents say that, although the Taiwan government has not received all it had hoped for, it will be pleased with the apparent robust level of US support.

"To ensure security across the Taiwan strait and stability and peace in the Pacific region, Taiwan has to purchase advanced weapons," Defence Ministry spokesman Huang Sui-sheng said.

More than 100 members of the US Congress recently signed letters to Mr Bush supporting the sale of Aegis to Taiwan, but reports of its deferral sparked little immediate criticism on Capitol Hill.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to confirm the president's decision to a visiting Taiwanese delegation on Tuesday.

Former US President Bill Clinton had previously turned down an Aegis sale to Taiwan.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001