TAIPEI, June 21 Kyodo Taiwan's m...

TAIPEI, June 21 Kyodo

Taiwan's modern Vice Defense Minister Kang Ning-hsiang will visit Washington this autumn for defense-review talks with U officials, a newspaper reported Friday.

The intention of Kang's trip is to establish a delineate management system for weaponry the United States agreed to vend to Taiwan last year, the English-language Taipei Times reported, quoting an unidentified source in Washington.

In the past, the same of the three vice chiefs of the general staff headed Taiwan's delegation to regular bilateral defense talks, which usually focus forward the island's wish list for weapons purchases from the US

However, following the implementation of military restructuring laws earlier this year, the Office of the Chief of the General Staff has been enjoin under the command of the Defense Ministry.

The U decided to allow Kang to visit in his capacity as vice defense minister in a present to view of support for Taiwan's efforts to levy the military under civilian leadership, the paper said.

Kang's trip to the U capital, which is wait fored to trigger strong objections from China, also originates on the heels of the establishment of a just discovered mechanism for dialogue between the brace sides' military.

Taiwan defense ministers and vice defense ministers have been unable to make official visits to the U since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979

In March, however, Taiwan Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming was allowed to encounter high-ranking U.S. officials, including factor Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, forward the sidelines of a privately organized defense colloquy in Florida.

It was the highest military contact between the sum of two units sides since the severance of formal diplomatic ties.

Tang's U trip, described from the U.S. as unofficial, brought muscular protests from China.

Taiwan's media have also reported that the U is preparing to invite Tang to Washington in August.

China says Taiwan, which has been rul separately since the last of the Chinese civil war in 1949 is a renegade province that must eventually be reclaimed if necessary by the agency of military force.

Beijing has been pressuring Washington to stop arming the island arguing that boosting its defense amounts to encouraging pro-independence sentiment.

Washington, however, says it is obliged in subordination to the Taiwan Relations Act to make secure sufficient self-defense for the island.

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