A bipartisan group of House members has asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to break a roadblock that has held up an $18.2 billion U.S. arms sale to Taiwan.
After congratulating Rice on her confirmation as secretary of state in their letter, the legislators wrote that they were concerned "over the Department of State's failure to transmit congressional notifications for a key foreign military sales package to the Republic of China on Taiwan."
 
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The package, which has drawn sharp criticism from Beijing, has been in the works for years and includes eight diesel-electric submarines, 12 P-3C Orion anti-submarine warfare aircraft and six Patriot missile defense batteries.
The Pentagon approved the package months ago, according to the legislators, but the deal is being held up by the State Department, which they said "will not deliver the necessary congressional notification" that is the next required step.
The State Department has delayed, according to the letter, because the Taiwan legislature last November refused to approve a review of the purchase. A majority of Taiwan's legislature opposed approval of the arms package because they believed the "procurement will only fuel cross-strait tensions" with mainland China, according to a Nov. 10 report in the China Post.
A background paper circulated with the House letter, said: "State (and possibly the NSC [National Security Council]) is reportedly reluctant to anger China with the arms sales because it thinks Beijing will help on the North Korean nuclear problem."
The letter, drafted originally by Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, concludes by saying, "We believe further delays of congressional notification of this package serve no useful purpose. In fact, it could exacerbate the military balance across the Taiwan Strait."
Also signing the letter were Reps. Roskoe G. Bartlett (R-Md.), Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.), Lane Evans (D-Ill.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), John N. Hostettler (R-Ind.) and Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.).
