Uncle Sam's Request

The United States has asked Israel to curb sales of advanced military technology to China, citing concern that it could be used to threaten Taiwan, the State Department said Thursday.

Even technology that is produced by Israel without U.S. help is under scrutiny for its strategic implications, spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"It's an ongoing subject of discussion with the government of Israel," Boucher said, confirming reports from Jerusalem. "It's based entirely on strategic concerns that the United States has."

Two years ago, submitting to U.S. pressure, Israel abandoned a deal to supply China with a sophisticated airborne radar system. The Pentagon had warned that the early warning planes could be used in an armed conflict with Taiwan.

Israel was forced to pay US$350 million as compensation after it canceled the contract, but realistically had no alternative but to yield to the United States, its closest ally as Israel tries to maintain its military edge over potential foes.

Beijing considers Taiwan a rebellious province and wants it to reunite with China. The United States systematically approves weapons sales to Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the State Department has accused the two largest American aerospace companies, Hughes Electronics Corp. and Boeing Satellite Systems Inc., of illegally transferring sensitive U.S. space technology to China in the 1990s that may have been used in a missile program.

In the past decade, Israel has managed to establish strong ties with China and India, both of which were cool to the Jewish state for years, and also to strengthen relations with Turkey, a mostly secular Muslim state bent on modernizing.

Israel's highly developed technology and its military might are attractive to the three countries, and they were willing to risk Arab disapproval and draw closer to the Jewish state.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, some Israeli officials believed the real reason for U.S. opposition to sales to China was a desire by American munitions companies to break into China's market and to eliminate their Israeli competitors.

However, Boucher said, "Any allegations that are based on commercial considerations are unfounded."

Rather, he said, U.S. officials in talking to their Israeli counterparts had "made very clear the strategic implications for U.S. security" of technology trade with China.

"The United States and Israel share many strategic interests, and just as we are sensitive to Israel's strategic interests we believe that Israel should be and is sensitive to ours," the spokesman said.

U.S.-China military relations have improved steadily after traveling a rocky road during the past decade. The two sides currently are completing an agreement to resume military exchanges, that Chinese President Jiang Zemin and President Bush reached during a summit last month.

In November, a U.S. battle group led by the aircraft carrier USS Constellation arrived in Hong Kong for a four-day port call, and a U.S. destroyer visited the port of Qingdao. No U.S. warship had made a port call to mainland China since military ties were ruptured following the collision of a Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet in April 2001.