The head of a U.S. business association that groups companies with interests in Taiwan has accused U.S. President Barack Obama of compromising Taiwan's security to promote U.S. relations with China. Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, wrote in a sharply worded year-end report that Taiwan is watching the developments 'with increased exasperation.' 'If the Obama administration balks at providing replacement F-16 fighters to Taiwan, China will have won a major victory in the Taiwan Strait without firing a shot,' he warned, adding that the updating of Taiwan's F-16 fleet was a 'material response' to Beijing's own fighter modernization. The following is a digest of some local media reports on the issue: United Daily News: The paper carried a Jan. 1 Reuters article that quoted Hammond-Chambers as saying that the U.S. departments of state and defense, as well as the U.S. trade representative, appeared interested in building closer U.S. ties with Taipei despite resulting complications in the U.S.-China relationship. 'Regrettably, this effort runs smack into a White House that clearly views Taiwan as a barrier to U.S. interests in Asia, ' he wrote in an annual year-end report dated Thursday and distributed the following day. Stating his belief that the 'strong support for Taiwan strengthens both our own and Taiwan's standing with China, ' Hammond-Chambers said the council will press in 2010 for an end to the U.S. administration's habit of notifying Congress of its decision to sell arms to Taiwan as a package. 'Packaging' of arms sales undermines the U.S. resolve to help Taiwan defend itself and significantly weakens Taiwan's defense modernization, Hammond- Chambers said. The alternative is to send arms sales notifications one by one to Congress, which has the power by law to block them. The United States is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with 'defense articles and services' needed for its self-defense, he added. (Jan. 3, 2010) China Times: Hammond-Chambers also urged the Obama administration to refrain from retaliating against Taiwanese lawmakers' attempts to block imports of U.S. ground beef and offal by dragging its feet on resuming the long-stalled sub-Cabinet talks under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). Pushing for a full resumption of TIFA meetings without preconditions will be one of the priorities the council has outlined for its work in 2010, Hammond- Chambers added. (Jan. 3, 2010) Meanwhile, on the sidelines of a Republic of China flag-raising ceremony in Washington, D.C., Jason Yuan, Taiwan's representative to the U.S., said the Obama administration will not correlate the beef trade issue with arms deals with Taiwan or President Ma Ying-jeou's request for a brief transit stay on his way to Latin America for a state visit. According to Yuan, the beef issue will be handled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the office of the U.S. trade representative, while the other two issues fall within the remit of the U.S. departments of defense and state and the White House. Liberty times: Hammond-Chambers wrote in his report that the council will see the U.S. sale of updated F-16s to Taiwan as a top priority in the bilateral relationship for 2010. The council will also push for the resumption of visits to Taiwan by U.S. Cabinet officials to promote U.S. economic interests in Taiwan. (Jan. 3, 2010) 