The United States has told Taiwan it will not sell the island 66 long-sought F-16 fighter jets, a report said, but both US and Taiwanese officials insisted Monday no decision had been made yet.
Taiwan applied to the United States in 2007 to buy the F-16C/Ds, improved versions of the F-16A/Bs that the island's air force now uses, claiming that the new jets are needed to counter a rising China.
But a US Department of Defense delegation flew to Taipei last week to tell the local authorities that Washington will reject the bid, US magazine Defense News said in a Taipei-datelined article released Sunday.
"We are so disappointed in the United States," it quoted an unnamed Taiwan defence ministry official as saying.
Instead, Washington will help Taipei upgrade its F-16A/Bs, according to the report.
