Washington: US lawmakers, fearful of any warplane-technology leakage to China, are demanding more safeguards for a potential $5 billion sale to Pakistan of F-16 fighter jets and weapons systems, a key congressman said on Thursday.
"We have reason to be concerned that all security conditions be in place before we approve the sale," Republicans said.
Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said in a telephone interview with Reuters.
On June 28, the Bush administration formally notified Congress of plans to sell Pakistan up to 36 F-16C/D Block 50/52 Falcon fighters built by Lockheed Martin Corp in a deal worth up to $5 billion if all options are exercised.
Congress has the power to block such a sale by enacting a resolution of disapproval in both houses within 30 days of the notification date.
"We are dealing with a country that gave us AQ Kahn," said Lantos, referring to a Pakistani scientist who confessed in 2004 to peddling banned nuclear wares around the world for years despite international safeguards.
Pakistan says Kahn, who was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf and has been under house arrest, acted independently and without state knowledge.
Lantos, of California, said he and Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican who chairs the House panel, were pressing the State Department to build new safeguards into the deal.
He said he favored the sale once "all of the security provisions are in place."
Typically, a buyer of US arms must agree to some measure of "end use monitoring" designed to make sure the technology is not shared illicitly.
Lantos made clear he was concerned that China, which has close military ties to Pakistan, might get access to the Block 50/52 - the most modern F-16 flown by the United States.
"That is the most obvious and most logical concern," he said.
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Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, has scheduled a classified briefing on Tuesday on the sale with Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, and Air Force Lt Gen Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, according to Andy Fisher, a Lugar spokesman.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said "proliferation," illicit sharing of US technology, had been taken into account before Congress was notified of the sale.
"This is the right proposal for Pakistan," he told a regular news briefing, adding the administration would continue to consult Congress closely on it.
Lantos spoke after what an aide said was a State Department request to postpone a committee hearing scheduled for Thursday on the proposed sale.
"There is no reason to proceed with a public hearing when we have substantive security concerns with respect to the sale," Lantos said.
Hyde rescheduled the hearing for July 20 with John Hillen, an assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, Hyde spokeswoman Kirsti Garlock said late on Thursday.
"The chairman is ensuring that diligent congressional oversight is taking place with regard to this proposed sale," Garlock said by e-mail.
Lantos faulted the State Department for ignoring a traditional 20-day period for conferring with Congress on arms sales in addition to the 30 days during which a sale may be blocked. Congressional security concerns could have been eliminated during such "pre-notification" talks, he said.
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