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U.S. Initially Unconcerned About Erroneous Shipment
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The response reflected the depth of Chinese opposition to U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing maintains is a part of China. In particular, China has responded with irritation to a recent effort by the Taiwanese Defense Ministry to buy advanced F-16 warplanes to enhance its fleet of older F-16s bought from Washington a decade ago.
Bush administration officials said the nose-cone assemblies had been returned and that U.S. diplomats contacted China and Taiwan to explain the error after it was discovered last week. But the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it expects more information about what occurred and that the shipment could affect relations between Washington and Beijing.
"We demand that the U.S. side thoroughly investigate this matter and report to China in a timely manner the details of the situation and eliminate the negative effects and disastrous consequences created by this incident," said a declaration attributed to Qin Gang, a ministry spokesman. "We urge the U.S. side to keep the promises they have made . . . and stop weapons sales and military contacts with Taiwan to avoid endangering peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the improvement in Sino-U.S. relations."
In a phone conversation yesterday between Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao, the subject of the errant delivery came up briefly, according to national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley. "It came up very briefly, and basically the president indicated that a mistake had been made," Hadley told reporters. "There [was] very little discussion about it."
Such classified materials are supposed to be closely monitored, and defense officials said the shipment to Taiwan almost certainly occurred because of human error.
"The investigation will determine the integrity of the shipping containers and their contents during the foreign military sales process," said Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, in announcing the erroneous shipment on Tuesday.
Staff writer Michael Abramowitz in Washington and correspondent Edward Cody in Beijing contributed to this report.
