Bush tells Hu shipment of warhead fuse to Taiwan a 'mistake'

AFP
Thursday, March 27, 2008

President George W. Bush told his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao Wednesday that the Pentagon made a "mistake" by sending Taiwan four nuclear warhead fuses in 2006, a top White House official said.

The Taiwan warhead issue "came up very briefly" in the telephone conversation between Bush and Hu, national security advisor Stephen Hadley told reporters.

"And, basically, the president (Bush) indicated that a mistake had been made. There was very little discussion about it," Hadley said.

The issue "was a very small part of the conversation," Hadley added.

The erroneous shipment of the fuses, which can be used to trigger warheads on ballistic missiles, was only discovered last week, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

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China on Wednesday expressed concern over the revelation and demanded a probe be launched.

"We express our serious concern and strong dissatisfaction and demand the US side investigate this incident," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement.

"We urge the US to cease selling military hardware to Taiwan and end US-Taiwan military ties, or risk harming stability in the Taiwan Strait and the healthy and stable development of China-US ties," the spokesman said.

Nose cone assemblies containing the fuses were recovered on Monday from Taiwan where they had been held in storage after being shipped there as helicopter batteries, senior Pentagon officials said.

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