The White House, convinced it can find the votes to pass permanent trade status for China, has said it will not authorize the sale of Aegis destroyers to Taiwan. Instead, Taiwan will be offered an early warning radar and AMRAAM missiles for its fighters. The trick is that the missiles will remain stockpiled in the US until China deploys similar missiles. Taiwan is not happy, and neither is Beijing, which wants no US weapons sold to Taiwan.--Stephen V Cole