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Berlin "Surprised" at US Submarine Sale to Taiwan
The German government expressed its anger over a unilateral US decision to sell submarines with German technology to Taiwan, the media reported on Wednesday, stressing that the government was "surprised" at the deal. "An (US) inquiry about German-made submarines will be out of the question and will not be approved," Sueddeutsche Zeitung (South German Daily) quoted Michael Steiner, foreign policy advisor to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, as stating.
A new government instruction on weapon sales guidance made it even impossible for the United States to buy German technology and then build the submarine by itself for Taiwan, Steiner stressed.
Up to now, there have been no talks between the US side and the German government over the submarine sale, the newspaper said in a front-page article, quoting a White House spokesman as saying.
The Chinese government expressed Tuesday its opposition to US
arms sales to Taiwan, saying it is strongly against sales of such sophisticated arms as Kidd-class destroyers, diesel-powered submarines and the P-3C anti-submarine aircraft.
According to American press reports, the United States would sell a large quantity of weapons to Taiwan, including four Kidd-class destroyers, a dozen anti-submarine aircraft P-3 "Orion" and eight diesel-powered submarines.
Because the United States no longer produces diesel-powered submarines, it has to buy submarines built in Germany or the Netherlands or submarine technology from the two countries.
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