Strained relations across the Taiwan Strait have largely eased since President Ma Ying-jeou assumed office and adopted his modus vivendi policy toward China. The quiet, uneventful cross-strait relations in the past two years have caused the United States to sigh with relief, whereas the unruffled seas in the strait have, however, unwittingly fueled discussion in Washington, D.C. of the pros and cons of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. For its part, China seems to be attempting to cash in on this trend to weaken the legitimacy or fundamental basis of U.S. arms dealings with Taiwan. The following are excerpts from the local media coverage of the issue: United Daily News: U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are hurting closer ties with China and asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates what Beijing would have to do for the Pentagon to reconsider such deals. Feinstein, who visited Beijing and Taipei earlier this month, told Gates in a Senate hearing that China's leaders have offered to reposition at least some of their military forces opposite Taiwan. The senior Democratic senator said the redeployment offer was raised during meetings she had with some of the Chinese leadership. Branding U.S. arms sales to Taiwan 'a substantial irritant' in Washington- Beijing relations, Feinstein asked Gates what 'substantial' steps China could take to ease its military posture in the Taiwan Strait in a way that would allow Washington to reconsider future arms sales to Taiwan. 'I think there is an opportunity to consider where we go if this across-the- strait situation is stable, ' Gates said. After the Obama administration notified Congress in January of plans to sell Taiwan up to US$6.4 billion- worth of arms, China broke off military-to-military contacts with the United States. Earlier this month, China turned down a proposed fence-mending visit by Gates. Gates cited Washington's justification for the sales, including what he called an 'extraordinary Chinese deployment of all manner of cruise and ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan on the Chinese side of the strait.' He further said it is up to Congress and the White House to decide whether to change the way American arms are sold to Taiwan. 'The bottom line is that the decision on Taiwan arms sales is fundamentally a political decision,' Gates said. Gates said the United States is 'very concerned' about China's growing anti-ship cruise and ballistic missile capabilities. (June 18, 2010). China Times: During a visit in October 2002 to then-U.S. President George W. Bush's private ranch in Crawford, Texas, then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin came up with a proposal that China could redeploy its missiles targeting Taiwan in exchange for an end to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. At the time, the U.S. government did not respond to the initiative because continued advances in the range and mobility of China's missiles would render any such redeployment meaningless. During Wednesday's Senate hearing, Gates said the U.S. is very concerned about China's growing missile, information and anti-satellite combat capabilities and hopes to increase military-to-military exchanges with China. Regrettably, he said, China has often suspended such exchanges. (June 18, 2010). Liberty Times: A diplomatic official said in private Thursday that Feinstein conveyed China's missile redeployment offer to senior Taiwanese authorities during her recent visit to Taipei. Noting that the government is fully aware of Feinstein's lack of support for U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the official said this was why the government invited her to visit Taipei following her trip to Beijing. 'We were hoping she would come to better understand the cross-strait situation through first-hand contact with our senior officials,' he added. Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated Thursday during a meeting with visiting Jim Cheng, secretary of commerce and trade of the U.S. state of Virginia, that Taiwan is a peacemaker and U.S. arms sales are designed to boost its national defenses. (June 18, 2010). 