Taiwan hails U.S. arms sale decision

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou says a U.S. decision to sell advanced arms to his country means relations with Washington are improving.

With the decision by the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency to proceed with the sale of a Patriot surface-to-air guided missile defense system to Taiwan, Ma said a period of strained relations between the countries appears to have passed, The Washington Post reported.

"We think this announcement from the U.S. government is a sign that the past eight years of discord are over," Ma said in a statement.

The Patriot missile sale was first proposed by the Bush administration in 2001, but parliamentary wrangling in Taiwan, coupled with an unwillingness to spend the money, irritated Washington and prompted Pentagon officials to place a de facto freeze on arms sales to Taipei, the newspaper said.

The effort was also complicated by Washington's desire to work with China, which views Taiwan as a renegade province, on such issues as North Korean nuclear disarmament.

Despite a statement from Chinese officials denouncing the sale, it shouldn't set back attempts to thaw relations between Taiwan and the mainland, analysts told the Post.