While American and Chinese negotiators met in Beijing, U.S. officials in Washington were weighing what weapons to sell Taiwan. Plante reports Mr. Bush is not expected to sell Taiwan the most sophisticated systems it wants, but is expected to tell them next week they can have some ships and submarines. The communist government considers the island a breakaway province, and has threatened to use force to capture it. The sides split amid civil war in 1949. The administration has tried to separate the weapons package from the dispute over U.S. spy flights.
China bitterly resents the Taiwan arms sales.
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