COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is offering to sell Taiwan a package of military equipment, but he is not offering what the Taiwanese want most: the Aegis combat radar system -- at least not yet. The hardware approved for sale includes four destroyers, 12 anti-submarine planes and eight diesel-powered submarines. Senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy reports now on the controversial relationship between Washington and Taipei.</s>MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Taiwan's government has tried to buy the Aegis radar system for several years. The fact that the Bush administration said no this time is a source of disappointment, but disappointment tempered by word from Washington that the system may well be made available if the missile threat from mainland China continues to increase. More broadly, Taiwan had three major goals in this whole exercise: the first, to enhance its own military capability; the second, to enhance its military and political relationship with the United States; and the third, to boost its confidence in dealing with mainland China. On the first matter, analysts here say Taiwan has come out well. The Kidd-class destroyers that the U.S. is going to sell will significantly boost its air defense system and the submarines and anti-sub aircraft will help Taiwan to counter the threat of a Naval blockade from mainland China. The way this has been handled has left the government and public opinion here reassured that the Bush administration and the United States will stand behind Taiwan if tensions with mainland China increase. On the third question -- whether this will make Taiwan more comfortable in dealing with the mainland -- we still don't know the answer. President Chen Shui-bian has a tough challenge. On the one hand, he needs to take what the U.S. is giving him to bolster his defense, but he has to signal to Beijing that he still wants reconciliation and some kind of dialogue, something that has not been taking place across the Taiwan Strait in recent months. Mike Chinoy, CNN, Taipei, Taiwan.
Taiwan Gets Equipment from United States, But No Aegis Radar System