- The US will deliver 200 advanced air-to-air missiles
to Taiwan after it had held them in a US air base for three years to avoid
upsetting China, a news report said today.
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- When it agreed to sell the AIM-120C advanced medium range
air-to-air missiles to Taiwan in 2000, Washington decided to hold the weapons
in the United States to avoid giving the island air supremacy over China
or provoking Beijing into accelerating its pursuit of a similar capability.
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- Washington recently agreed to turn over the missiles
because the Chinese air force has acquired advanced fighter jets and successfully
test-fired Russian-built AA-12 air-to-air missiles, posing a greater threat
to Taiwan, the semiofficial Central News Agency said.
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- The AIM-120C missiles, to be carried by US-built F-16
fighter jets, will be shipped to Taiwan in a month or two from the US air
base in Guam, the agency quoted unidentified Taiwanese military officials
as saying.
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- Defence Ministry officials could not be immediately reached
for comment.
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- China had protested to Washington over the $US150 million
($230 million) missile sale to Taiwan. China and Taiwan split amid civil
war in 1949, and Beijing regards the self-ruling island as part of its
own territory.
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- China strongly opposes US arms sales to the island. But
under the Taiwan Relations Act, signed by the United States in 1979 when
it switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing, Washington is bound by
law to provide Taiwan with defensive arms.
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- Taiwanese pilots have been trained on how to use the
missiles at the US Air Force's training ranges on F-16s that have weapon
control software, US defence officials have said.
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- The AIM-120C missiles, used by US aircraft since 1991
and built by Raytheon Company, allow a pilot to launch the weapon from
beyond visual range of his target. It also provides greater capability
of attacking low-altitude targets.
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- http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6747102%255E401,00.html
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