Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 18, 2001
Washington, October 17: As human
rights activists see another evidence of "unprincipled" actions by the
US in the pursuit of alliances against Taliban, the Bush administration
is now proposing to waive sanctions that bar the sale of military-related
equipment to China.
The proposal is being touted as
an effort to enable China to make use of grounded helicopters for rescue
missions but analysts note that they can also be armed to suppress demonstrations
in Tibet and play down links to Taiwan.
The proposal to sell black hawk
helicopter spare parts to Beijing was disclosed to the Washington Post
newspaper by the US "government sources". The US move on the sanctions,
which were imposed after the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square demonstrators,
would clear the way for the sale of spare parts of black hawk helicopters
the US sold to China during 1980s.
The proposal to sell helicopter
spare parts and possibly the arms is viewed as just one more piece of evidence
of the new "unprincipled" foreign policy, jettisoning human rights, religious
freedom, democracy and other goals.
The newspaper said that taken together,
the retreat from the benign and benevolent aspects of American policy are
nothing short of awesome.
In its attempt to enlist Pakistan's
support, the Bush administration promised President Pervez Musharraf on
Tuesday that members of the Taliban, whom Pakistan has nurtured, could
be included in the new broad-based administration proposed by Washington
and waiver of coup-related sanctions for the next two years, by which time
Musharraf has promised democracy would return.
