The recent heated debate over the sale of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes and F-15 fighter components to Saudi Arabia was only one of a number of controversies involving U.S. arms sales. The next weapons transfer which will meet congressional resistance is that of F-16 fighters to Pakistan, a sale which some believe will give a renewed impetus to the arms race on the subcontinent and undermine nonproliferation efforts. Serious questions are also being raised about the wisdom of the planned sale of F-16s to Venezuela, thereby crossing a technological threshold which in the past has restrained the transfer of the most advanced fighter aircraft to Latin America. Proposed new arms supply relationships with Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala will draw the ire of those who are concerned about the dropping of past restrictions based upon these countries' human rights records. The Reagan Administration is faced with a tough decision regarding the sale of the FX fighter to Taiwan. Beijing has put Washington on notice that it considers the proposed sale as a 'litmus test' of future Sino-American relations. But the same type of symbolism is attached to the sale by Taipei, which would view the failure to sell as a sign of abandonment. Editor's note: the Reagan Administration announced on January 11, 1982, that it had decided not to sell the FX to Taiwan, but would instead permit additional sales of the F-5E.


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    Titel :

    Arms Sales: The New Diplomacy


    Beteiligte:
    A. J. Pierre (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    1982


    Format / Umfang :

    18 pages


    Medientyp :

    Report


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch