US to post military officers to Taiwan mission: Jane's

[Judi Lynn]

US to post military officers to Taiwan mission: Jane's

1 hour, 7 minutes ago Politics - AFP


TAIPEI (AFP) - In a reversal of its long-standing policy, the United States will post military officers to its mission in Taipei for the first time since 1979, leading defense journal Jane's Defense Weekly says.

The move is expected to rile China as it marks closer military ties between Washington and the island which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

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 to be published on Wednesday.

US army Colonel Al Wilner, a former helicopter pilot, will be the first to arrive, Jane's Taipei correspondent Wendell Minnick told AFP Sunday.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&ncid=731&e=4&u=/afp/20041219/pl_afp/taiwanuschinamilitary

[Maple]

1. Can somebody tell me why

Bush is going out of his way to alienate everybody on the planet???

[moondust]

3. Yeah.

More enemies mean more to fear which justifies more militarization which leads to more defense contracts which generate more money and more power for the hard-line war mongers of the rabid right currently alienating everybody on the planet because...(loop forever).

[RedCon1]

2. We just sold Taiwan a shitload of Apache helicopters.

We probably sold them a lot more than that but that's all I know about for sure. Part of the helicopter deal involved the use of American forces and military installations for training purposes.