14-JUL-1993 16:37
JAMES LEE
TRANSCRIPT B
0494536249
P.22
S
FOREIGN AFFAIRS SELECT
MR. ALASTAIR GOODLAD COMMITTEE 14 JULY 1993
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On the question of retaliation against other countries that have,
the United States did not suffer bilateral retaliation but the
Chinese did pull out of some multilateral discussions of weapons
proliferation but the American relationship is on a different
basis to ours; their Taiwan Act does allow for sales of
defence-related equipment.
The Netherlands were forced to withdraw their ambassador from
Peking after sales to Taiwan in the early 1980s and their
relationship suffered accordingly and they subsequently signed an
agreement with the Chinese prohibiting further sales and I think
that the Dutch, despite some pressure from the defence industry
there, are reluctant to vitiate their other commercial relations
with China by repeating the arms sales.
They were forced to close their
The French sold them Mirages.
consulate in Canton and it is also thought that they have had
difficulty in obtaining official access in Peking and that some of
their companies have been frozen out of major mainland contracts
and the Chinese have threatened further retaliation when the
planes are actually delivered.
So there is evidence that the Chinese take seriously their view
that the sale of such equipment is an interference in their
internal affairs and we have no plans to sell arms or to allow
arms to be sold to Taiwan,
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