Taiwan urges U.S. to sell it F-16 jets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Taiwan's envoy urged the United States on Tuesday to approve the sale of advanced Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighter jets as soon as possible, putting the Bush administration in an awkward position ahead of the Olympic games in Beijing.

The potential $4.9 billion deal for 66 advanced F-16 C/D models is strongly opposed by China. Critics say the Bush administration has been stalling, at least until after China hosts the games in August.

"We hope that the U.S. administration will approve the requested sale as soon as possible," Joseph Wu, the outgoing chief representative in Washington, told Reuters.

Wu, who is to leave Washington in coming weeks, was speaking for the government of Taiwan, said Eddie Tsai, a spokesman for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, or TECRO, as the unofficial embassy is known.

Taiwan asked to buy new F-16s last year, but the Bush administration has refused to accept formal paperwork needed to process the request, according to the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, which represents about 100 companies doing business in Taiwan, including contractors such as Lockheed Martin.

The new F-16s would supplement 150 F-16A/B models sold to Taiwan by George W. Bush's father, the first president Bush, in 1992.

"We believe that Taiwan's acquisition of additional F-16s ... will do much to enhance Taiwan's air defense and at the same time improve stability across the Taiwan Strait," Wu said in an e-mailed reply to a query from Reuters.

He made his remarks after the business council, now headed by Paul Wolfowitz, a former deputy secretary of defense under Bush, accused the administration of tampering with the U.S. arms sales process to hold up what it said was more than $11 billion in deals sought by Taiwan.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Toni Reinhold)