The United States will assign military officers to its de facto embassy in Taiwan for the first time in 25 years, reversing a longstanding policy of using civilian defence contractors, a spokeswoman said yesterday. The decision is likely to irk China as it could herald closer military ties between the United States and Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a rebel province that must be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The United States cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 and switched recognition to China, but it remains the island?s biggest arms supplier and has treaty obligations to help Taipei defend itself. US-Taiwan relations are handled on the island by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). ?Historically, AIT has hired retired American military officers as contractors to coordinate defence assistance to Taiwan,?said AIT spokeswoman Dana Smith.

?Non-uniformed, active-duty military and Department of Defense civilian personnel will now replace these contractors. They are being detailed to the American Institute in Taiwan as part of the normal rotation of personnel.? Smith said US policy towards Taiwan has not changed. The personnel move followed an amendment to the Taiwan Relations Act in October 2002 that allows US government officials to be directly assigned to the AIT.

Jane?s Defence Weekly said this week the programme is tentatively set to begin with the deployment of a US army officer to head the AIT?s Technical Liaison Section in mid-2005. The news came as the administration of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian tries to persuade an opposition-dominated parliament to approve an $18 billion US weapons deal. The deal included six Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile batteries, eight diesel-electric submarines and 12 P-3C Orion submarine-hunting aircraft.