Sixty U.S. lawmakers have signed a letter urging the Bush administration to sell Taiwan advanced Aegis-equipped destroyers as a way to counter China's growing military power in the Asia-Pacific theater.

The letter, which was reportedly sent to the administration on Monday, said the White House should give "full consideration" to the sale, which has been requested by Taiwan for over a year.

The Clinton administration repeatedly refused to sell Taiwan any of the nearly-$1 billion ships; Taipei has said it would like to buy four of them. If approved, the ships still would not be delivered in full before 2009, analysts say.

"We strongly support and recommend that your administration recognize the legitimate need for Taiwan to acquire the Arleigh Burke Aegis destroyers, and that you give full consideration to the release of this system to Taiwan this year," congressional officials -- speaking anonymously -- told Agence France Presse.

The letter was expected to be released later this week or early next week, the report said, which did not identify any of the congressional signers.

However, the letter comes just ahead of talks scheduled in April between U.S. and Taiwanese officials over the island democracy's arms shopping list for this year. Taiwan is expected to include Aegis destroyers on its list of requested arms.

The U.S. is the island's largest weapons supplier.

Also, the letter comes a few days ahead of a planned visit to Washington by Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen, who is expected to push the administration away from granting many -- if any -- of Taiwan's weapons requests.

Last week, Chinese officials blamed the U.S. government for prolonging the mainland's planned "reunification" with Taiwan -- which Beijing considers a renegade province -- because of Washington's arms patronage of Taipei.

Qian will also try to gauge how effectively China will be able to deal with an administration that has taken a decidedly more hawkish stance against Beijing than the prior Clinton administration.

China appears increasingly worried about the Aegis systems. Last week, Beijing's top arms control official warned, "Of the arms [the U.S.] has proposed to sell to Taiwan, Aegis is the worst."

That's probably because China has no similar systems in its weapons inventory, and cannot buy a comparable system -- even from Russia -- because, analysts say, Aegis is second-to-none.

The system is billed as a "total weapons package" that incorporates a powerful radar capable of tracking 100 targets simultaneously. The system can detect, track and destroy missiles, submarines, aircraft and surface warships.

Russian warships and, to a far lesser degree, China's, incorporate some advanced radar tracking and defense capabilities similar to Aegis, but none can compare to the system's total air- and battle space-management abilities.

Agence France Presse said one congressional source noted that Bush officials have already briefed lawmakers and their aides about Taiwan's weapons request, including the Aegis. The official said the Bush administration may take the same tack as the Clinton White House -- deferring the decision until some future time.

"I don't think the administration has made up its mind yet," the source told AFP, adding that big supporters of arming Taiwan "didn't exactly hear what they wanted to hear."

"Are they [Taiwan] getting Aegis or not? That might not be the right question to ask," the official said, suggesting that the administration might approve the sale under certain conditions.

Others said the only criteria the administration should use in deciding on what to sell Taiwan is the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. That act calls for U.S. administrations to sell Taiwan weapons it needs to adequately defend itself.

A separate report said one Taiwanese expert believes the administration will sell the destroyers.

Maj. Gen. Tyson Fu, director of the Institute of Strategic Studies at Taiwan's National Defense University, told AFP, "Washington may give the nod to the sale of the destroyers, viewing it as in the U.S. interest. ..."

Fu said some U.S. military planners and White House officials, as well as many congressmen, believe the military advantage in the Taiwan Straits is tilting dangerously toward Beijing.

"Washington has said maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Straits is an approach to sustaining peace and stability in the region," Fu said.

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