This sounds like "aviation blackmail"…

I’m personally disgusted with this kind of lobbying…

U.S. Lawmakers Push Taiwan to Cancel Airbus Deal, Hire Boeing
Thu Sep 12,12:11 AM ET

Several key U.S. legislators are pressing Taiwan to reverse a decision by state-owned China Airlines to purchase 16 jetliners from Airbus, suggesting that buying competing airplanes from Boeing Co.

(NYSE: BA – News) would increase the chances of reaching a free-trade agreement with the U.S., Thursday’s Wall Street Journal reported.

Sixteen senators, as well as at least four House of Representatives members, sent letters to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian in late July. The Wall Street Journal has seen two of the letters. They urged Mr. Chen to give his personal attention to the deal, which is valued at about $3 billion at list prices. “It is our hope that a decision in favor of Boeing will provide an additional demonstration of the important and beneficial implications of an enhanced U.S.- Taiwan economic relationship,” said one letter, adding that buying from Boeing ” could increase momentum toward the successful negotiation of the U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement.”

That letter was signed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.), as well as senators from states in which Boeing employs substantial numbers of people, including Washington, Kansas, Missouri and California.

A separate letter from Henry Hyde (R., Ill.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said that if the airline bought from Airbus, nearly 30,000 U.S. jobs would likely be lost over the next five to 10 years. Mr. Hyde pointed out that China’s continuing buildup of offensive military capabilities makes it “all the more essential that we must do all we can to strengthen the security, trade and commercial ties that bind us so closely together.” Mr. Hyde wasn’t immediately available to comment.

The lobbying has drawn protests from Airbus, which says the involvement of U.S. government officials violates a 1992 international agreement that prohibits governments from using politics to influence what should be commercial purchasing decisions.

Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter J. Lynn Lunsford contributed to this report.