U.S. Arms Sale to Taiwan Proceeds Over China Protest

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Revelation 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. 19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like to serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

clipped from www.businessweek.com March 1 (Bloomberg) -- A proposed U.S. sale to Taiwan of missiles, helicopters and ships valued at about $6.4 billion will go forward. The House and Senate foreign affairs committees took no action on the proposal during the 30-day window for objection that ended yesterday, thereby allowing it to proceed in the face of protests from China. “It’s cleared so we are moving forward to put together the paperwork that will eventually be the letter of offer to Taiwan,” Defense Security Cooperation Agency spokesman Paul Ebner said. The U.S. Defense Department wants to sell Taiwan the most advanced Patriot anti-missile system, which is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. The system, valued at $2.8 billion, would add to Taiwan’s network of 22 missile sites around the country to defend against a Chinese attack. The U.S. arms sales to the island nation have irritated China so much that it cut off military talks after the last sale was announced in October 2008

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White House China Diplomacy Threatens US Security

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clipped from bible-prophecy-today.blogspot.com The current Administration's lack of diplomacy in the conduct of America's foreign policy combined with its deliberate, extraordinary and record debt has placed the national security in grave danger. Example: While the previous Bush Administration seemed to get away with meeting with the Dalai Lama and fortifying Taiwan, this White House is in deep trouble with China over the two issues. The Bush Administration operated from the position of strength and isolated trade and business with China from the more delicate political matters. Yes, China always put up a diplomatic fuss when the Bush Administration supported the Dalai Lama or Taiwan, but now there are threats from the Chinese military. White House China Diplomacy Threatens US Security

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China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S.

clipped from www.reuters.com BEIJING (Reuters) - Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan. The calls for broad retaliation over the planned U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island came from officers at China's National Defence University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency. The warnings from the PLA come after weeks of strains between Washington and Beijing, who have also been at odds over Internet controls and hacking, trade and currency quarrels, and President Barack Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader reviled by China as a "separatist." China is likely to unveil its official military budget for 2010 next month, when the Communist Party-controlled national parliament meets for its annual session.

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Tensions spill over as Obama attacks Beijing's undervalued yuan

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clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk Long-simmering tensions between Beijing and Washington over the value of China’s currency have spilled over into angry words at the highest level, further damaging ties hit by a series of disputes in the few brief weeks since the start of the year. The chill in one of the world’s most important diplomatic relationships is almost certain to deepen in the next few months as the world’s largest and third-largest economies tackle an array of contentious issues, ranging from cyber attacks to the Dalai Lama. China responded swiftly to a pledge from President Barack Obama that he would be tougher with Beijing over the value of the yuan, which Washington believes is artificially undervalued. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said: “Accusations and pressure do not help to solve the problem." However, there is the risk of one side overplaying its hand: US approval last month of arms sales to Taiwan, flagged months in advance, has drawn unusually fierce angry volleys from Beijing.

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UPDATE 1-Taiwan says to buy miltary helicopters from Europe

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clipped from www.reuters.com * Up to 20 search-and-rescue choppers sought - Defense News * China has blasted U.S. over planned arms package to Taiwan TAIPEI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan said on Friday it would buy military helicopters from a European manufacturer, a move that could ignite China's anger toward Europe following a storm over U.S. arms sales to the island that Beijing claims as its own. China has blasted the United States over a planned $6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan, saying it would place sanctions on U.S. firms that sell weapons to the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a breakaway province of China. [ID:nSGE6110AB] China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary. Taiwan seeks advanced foreign-made weapons to update its military, which lags China in the balance of power.

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Changing China tied to rough ride with U.S. | Reuters

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• Changing China tied to rough ride with U.S. | Reuters

  "BEIJING (Reuters) - "Ride on a tiger and it's hard to climb down," goes a Chinese saying that is proving apt for Beijing's quarrels with Washington this year, when swollen ambitions at home are driving China on a harder tack abroad. China | COP15 China's outrage over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and President Barack Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama has shown that, in the wake of the global financial crisis, Beijing is growing pushier in public. In past decades, a poorer, more cautious China greeted U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island with angry words and little else. Not now, as China enters the Year of the Tiger in its traditional lunar calendar cycle of talismanic animals. The Obama administration last week announced plans to ship $6.4 billion of missiles, helicopters and weapons control systems to the self-ruled island Beijing calls its own. China threatened to downgrade cooperation with Washington and for the first time sanction companies involved in such sales. Beijing this week also condemned Obama's plan to meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader reviled by China. China's loud ire adds to signs the country is becoming surer about throwing around its political weight, growing along with an economy soon likely to whir past Japan's as the world's second biggest, though it will still trail far behind the United States. Behind this assertiveness are domestic pressures likely to make it harder work for China's leaders to cool disputes with Washington and other Western capitals. "There is this paradox of increasing confidence externally and lack of confidence domestically," said Susan Shirk, a professor specializing in Chinese foreign policy at the University of California, San Diego. "There's also what I consider a serious misperception of the country's economic strength and how that translates in power.""

  tags: reuters, China, beijing, mad, rough, quarrels, with, US

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Global Times - US-Taiwan missile deal irks Beijing

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• Global Times - US-Taiwan missile deal irks Beijing

  "By Kang Juan China made stern representations to the US Thursday after the Obama administration approved a sale of upgraded Patriot air-defense missile equipment to Taiwan. The decision was denounced by Chinese military scholars as a representation of US-style pragmatism and its long-term containment policy toward China. The US defense department announced the contract late on Wednesday, allowing Lockheed Martin Corp to sell an unspecified number of Patriots, said the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington's de facto embassy in the absence of formal ties, Reuters reported Thursday. Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief of Defense News, told Reuters that the sale rounds out a $6.5 billion arms package approved in late 2008, which included 330 Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missiles worth up to $3.1 billion. "This is the last piece that Taiwan has been waiting on," Minnick said. Late last month, Raytheon, the world's largest missile maker, won contracts totaling $1.1 billion to produce the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System for Taiwan, including ground-system hardware and spare parts. According to a Wednesday press release by the US Department of Defense on its website, the contract with Lockheed, awarded December 30, included "basic missile tooling upgrades, command and launch control tooling, spares and ground support equipment." The completion date of the work is estimated to be October 31, 2012. In a regular press conference in Beijing Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said China has urged the US to cancel any planned arms sales to Taiwan to avoid damaging its ties with Beijing. The PAC-3 missile is the world's "most advanced, capable and powerful theater air defense missile," which defeats tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and fixed and rotary winged aircraft, and significantly increases the Patriot system's firepower, Lockheed said on its website."

  tags: Government, Global, US, China, Taiwan, deal, Missile, Dragon, Prophecy, ustaiwan, News

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