Taipei rejects, and analysts doubt, report US would consider grand bargain on Taiwan arms sales

Reports in mainland state media that Beijing is seeking to set up a working group with the US on arms sales to Taiwan has put renewed focus on the military relations between Beijing, Taipei and Washington.

Defence Minister Chang Wanquan proposed several working teams, including one on arms sales to Taiwan, during meetings in Washington with US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and National Security Adviser Susan Rice last Monday.

Beijing has identified arms sales to Taiwan as one of "three barriers" in Sino-US military relations. The other two are the US Congress' allegedly discriminatory legislation against Beijing and US reconnaissance flights in China's exclusive economic zone.

According to a China News Service report, Rear Admiral Guan Youfei , director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Defence Ministry, told mainland Chinese journalists in the US that "to remove the three barriers, China proposed to set up working groups to look into the issues and seek ways to resolve them. The US has given a positive response to this."

The report was also posted on the website of the Defence Ministry.

Pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po also quoted Guan as saying that Chang had proposed to the US that in return for its stopping the sale of arms to Taiwan, Beijing would consider "adjusting its deployment of missiles", a phrase generally interpreted as the removal of missiles aimed at Taiwan from coastal areas. Similar suggestions were put to US President Barack Obama by President Xi Jinping during a June summit in California.