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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: LindyBill who wrote (442363)8/24/2011 8:07:02 AM
From: RinConRon  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 793917
 
Senator: F-16 Deal With Taiwan Might Bypass Obama

Published August 23, 2011 | Associated Press


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Congress may be able to approve the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan even if President Barack Obama should object, a Republican senator said Tuesday.

The United States is legally required to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons. However, authorizing the multibillion-dollar, long-pending sale of the 66 planes would anger China, which regards the self-governing island as part of its territory.

The Obama administration is due to give its decision on the deal by Oct. 1. Lawmakers and analysts in both Taiwan and Washington widely anticipate that the administration will opt to upgrade Taiwan's existing fleet of F-16s, rather than sell the new, more advanced planes that the island has been seeking for several years.

The Pentagon spokeswoman for Asia-Pacific security affairs, Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, said Tuesday that no decisions have been made on potential arms sales to Taiwan and that the department does not comment on potential weapons systems for foreign military sales.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who spoke to reporters by conference call after touring the Lockheed Martin factory in Fort Worth, said not approving the sale of new planes would be a blow for a crucial U.S. ally and could cost 2,300 jobs at the factory.

An amendment to the defense authorization bill could be introduced on the Senate floor, likely in October or November, to approve Taiwan's request, Cornyn said. If such an amendment were approved by Congress, Obama still would have the right of veto, but exercising it would mean scuttling approval for a wide array of defense programs.

In May, nearly half of the Democrat-led Senate sent a letter urging Obama to authorize the deal.

There is likely even broader support in the Republican-controlled House.

Giving the green light would set back Obama's efforts to cultivate a stable, cooperative relationship with China, which has reacted to previous arms sales to Taiwan by cutting military ties with the U.S.

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou has forged closer ties with Beijing, reducing tensions across the Taiwan Strait to their lowest in six decades. But Ma, who faces re-election next year, sees the F-16s as a way of improving Taiwan's negotiating position with the communist government on the mainland.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/23/senator-f-16-deal-with-taiwan-might-bypass-obama/#ixzz1VwmbEUvK



To: LindyBill who wrote (442363)8/24/2011 5:20:11 PM
From: Maurice Winn1 Recommendation  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 793917
 
Aren't there about 20 million Mexicans who have invaded? Send home 10 million of them and that should open about 5 million, or maybe 20 million employment vacancies for Americans. < There are now 6.2 million Americans (more than 44% of the unemployed) who have been out of work for more than a year -- and are dead last on any list of employers seeking to fill positions. These are people whose skills have rusted in a fast-paced global economy, along with twentysomethings who haven't even developed the habit of work. We risk losing a generation of men and women who won't be able find meaningful employment ever again.>

Or simply match China's and India's minimum legal pay rates so that employers can offer what people are worth. It's a global economy. And dump the anti-discrimination and other silly employment laws. If somebody doesn't want to hire a white heterosexual short man they shouldn't have to just to make up a quota.

Mqurice