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China 'Will Not Sit Idly' if US Sells Fighter Jets to Taiwan

Associated Press

   BEIJING - China "will not sit idly by" if the U.S. proceeds with a sale
   of advanced F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan, a Chinese general said, while
   warning of other potential countermeasures in addition to punishing
   foreign firms involved in the deal.

   Beijing considered the sale a violation of previous U.S. commitments to
   China regarding the island it considers its own territory to be annexed
   by force if necessary, Maj. Gen. Chen Rongdi, chief of the Institute of
   War Studies at the Academy of Military Sciences, said. He did not
   elaborate on what additional measures China might take.

   "China will not sit idly by," Chen said Thursday at a forum sponsored
   by China's official journalists' association. "Of course, we don't rule
   out additional measures."

   Sanction companies

   Beijing has repeatedly said it will levy sanctions against U.S.
   companies linked to a planned $8 billion sale and demanded Washington
   cancel it immediately. China has made such threats regarding previous
   arms sales by the U.S., but they've had limited effect because the
   companies involved are either important to China's own nascent
   commercial aviation industry or have little or no business with the
   country.

   Most recently, China pledged sanctions against the U.S. in July when
   the Trump administration said it was considering a $2.2 billion sale of
   tanks and air missiles to Taiwan.

   Both Chen and Col. Cao Yanzong, a research fellow at the institute,
   dismissed the ultimate effectiveness of the F-16V planes, given China's
   overwhelming air superiority and arsenal of short- to medium-range
   missiles.

   The sale would be of little use "beyond making profits for American
   arms makers, while further undermining relations between China and the
   U.S. and China and Taiwan," Cao said.

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