China has yet to respond officially to the arms sales package, which it had lobbied to halt.
President Bush had turned down a request from Taiwan, at least for now, to buy the Aegis system, the aide said. China would not be assuaged by Bush's decision to put off the sale of the Aegis and PAC-3 systems because previous U.S. administrations had stopped short of submarine sales to Taiwan. Reneging outright on commitments to control chemical and biological weapons or missiles was unlikely because it would hurt China's international image, the diplomat said. There's potential for them to increase cooperation there as a way of putting pressure on the U.S. in the long term.