REAGAN SET TO SELL JET UPDATE TO PEKING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504720005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: January 29, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504720005-2
UN PAGE _ALZLIIM~
WASHINGTON TIMES
29 January 1986
Reagan
set to sell
jet update
to Peking
By Edward Neilan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Reagan administration will an-
nounce within a few weeks a $500 million
arms sale package to the People's Repub-
lic of China that will significantly up-
grade Peking's F-8 jet fighters, a Defense
Department official said yesterday.
The sale "will not alter the military
balance in the Taiwan straits," the official
said.
"The details and security implications
of the sale have been rou2hlv debated
byte Department of Defense, Joint
Chiefs, State Department, National Secu-
rity council, Central Intelligence
Agency and Defense Intelligence
Agency, an ter has be n int r~encv
agreement that we should proceed" said
Edward Ross, assistant for China. Office
of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for
International Security Affairs.
The six-year project, which will be su-
pervised by the U.S. Air Force, will en-
hance radar and navigational equipment
on 50 F-8s, Mr. Ross said. The delta-wing
planes were built in the 1960s in China to
defend against the Soviet Union.
The sale, which Congress is likely to
approve, comes on the heels of the first
foreign military sales agreement with
China, a $98 million project announced
last September, including plans for an ar-
tillery munitions factory and technical
specifications for 155mm projectiles.
The United States has already sold
China civilian versions of the Sikorsky
Black Hawk helicopter, General Electric
LM2500 gas turbine engines for war-
ships, Raytheon DE1167 towed sonar and
MK 46 Mod 2 torpedoes.
Other sales under discussion for 1986
are General Electric F404 jet engines,
Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System
MK-I anti-submarine warfare
equipment, improved surface-to-air mis-
siles and E-2C Hawkeye early-warning
aircraft.
Some congressional sources oppose
the developing policy of arms sales to
China on the basis that they tip the bal-
ance of military power of the China vs.
Taiwan equation in favor of China.
The most advanced fighter aircraft in
Taiwan's arsenal is the F-SE, a plane with-
out the all-weather capability of the F-8.
Sen. Frank Murkowski, an Alaska Re-
publican, said yesterday: "These arms
and avionics sales to China must be ex-
amined closely in light of our relations
with Taiwan. We must continue to walk
the tightrope between Peking and Taipei,
even though the sales may be in our in-
terests in holding the Soviets at bay."
Mr. Murkowski was speaking at the
same Heritage Foundation seminar on
"U.S.-China Relations" at which Mn Ross
gave what one diplomat said was "the
most comprehensive administration re-
port to date on the China arms sales is-
sue."
Mr. Murkowski, chairman of the sub-
committe on East Asia and Pacific of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
said he would object to the avionics sale
if "it turns out that Thiwan's security is
seriously compromised as a result."
All arguments have been heard re-
garding short- and long-term security
and other considerations for the United
States and its Asian allies, Mr. Ross said.
He said the sale "will not alter the mili-
tary balance in the Taiwan straits be-
cause the F-8 will never go near that
area."
Asked if the administration had
Peking's assurances on that point, Mr.
Ross said, "It would be poor form to press
China on such matters which relate to
sovereignty, but just say we are confident
the F-8 will be used for the role it was
designed to fulfill."
Another panelist, June Dreyer, profes-
sor of political science at the University
of Miami, said the real subject of concern
in the Taiwan straits should be a possible
naval blockade by China of Taiwan's
ports and shipping, which are "ex-
tremely vulnerable" to such action.
Quoting a Malaysian defense official,
Ms. Dreyer said U.S. policy was like "the
feeding of a baby python in your back
yard, which seems harmless. But before
long the python grows."
Mr. Ross replied: "The willingness of
the United States to develop a military
relationship with China is founded on the
assessment that we share parallel inter-
ests, both globally and regionally. Fore-
most among these is a common security
concern - the growing threat posed by
the Soviet Union"
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504720005-2