http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=10403
US to post active military officers in Taiwan ISN SECURITY WATCH (20/12/04) - In a major departure from its policy, Washington has decided to post serving military officers to its mission in Taipei, Jane Defense Weekly said in a report. From the middle of 2005, active duty military personnel will replace civilian contractors at Washington's effective diplomatic mission in Taipei, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the weekly said in an article slated for publication on Wednesday. Agence France Presse news agency quoted Jane's Taipei correspondent Wendell Minnick as saying that US army Colonel Al Wilner, a former helicopter pilot, would be the first to arrive in Taipei. With a lack of diplomatic ties, military affairs between Washington and Taipei have been handled by contractors working for the US Defense Intelligence Agency and Defense Security Co-ordination Agency. "Washington has become less concerned over any potential protest from Beijing amid growing unease over China's military ambitions in the Asia Pacific region," the weekly said. The reports said the change resulted from a bill passed by US Congress in 2002 allowing for the posting of US military personnel to Taiwan if it was deemed to be "in the national interest of the United States". US government employees, including military personnel, are currently required to retire before they can be hired by the US mission in Taipei. US personnel assigned to the mission will not wear uniforms and will serve for three years, compared with the two-year term offered to civilian contractors, the weekly says. The change should also cut costs, as civilian employees are higher paid. Taipei is pushing for a controversial special defense budget to purchase six US-made Pac-3 anti-missile systems, eight conventional submarines, and a fleet of submarine-hunting P-3C aircraft, over a 15-year period from 2005. The US move is expected to annoy China, as it would mark closer military ties between Washington and the island, which Beijing claims as part of its territory. Washington switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but has since remained the leading arms supplier to the island. The US has recently sent mixed signals about the China-Taiwan conflict. In October, US Secretary of State Colin Powell reaffirmed the US "One China" policy saying: "Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains [�] our firm policy." The island split off from China in 1949 after communists under Mao Zedong subdued nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang party, who set up a separate Chinese state across the Taiwan Straits. (By Ravi Prasad in Colombo) ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
