Former US president Jimmy Carter said December 5 that when ties with China were re-established 29 years ago, Beijing privately acknowledged that the United States would keep selling arms to Taiwan.
At a ceremony marking the 29th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic ties, Carter read excerpts from his diary of December 14, 1978 concerning negotiations with the late Deng Xiaoping.
"(Deng) agreed that our statement to settle the Taiwan issue peacefully would not be contradicted publicly by China and he understood that we would sell defensive weapons to Taiwan after (a US-Taiwan defence) treaty expired," Carter said.
The United States announced on December 15, 1978, that it would sever ties with Taiwan. It re-established relations with China on January 1, 1979. Before 1979, the United States viewed the Taiwan government as rightful ruler of all China. (Source: AFP, Dec 5, 2007).