Time to stop US arms sales to Taiwan
- By Rabi Sankar Bosu
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 26, 2017
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The United States is playing a dangerous game by selling arms to Taiwan in violation of commitments made in establishing relations with China. [China Daily] |
On June 29, the Trump administration notified Congress that it had approved sales of US$1.42 billion-worth of advanced weaponry to Taiwan, despite the Chinese government's persistent opposition.
There's no doubt this will have an adverse impact on the prospects for cross-Straits peace, as well as the Sino-U.S. ties.
American sales of weapons to Taiwan is not only dangerous but also an idiotic move on the part of President Donald Trump for its corrosive effect on the Sino-U.S. relationship, for it sends "a wrong signal" to those promoting separatist activities favoring "Taiwan independence," and will do great harm to cross-Straits peace and stability.
The U.S. move runs counter to Chinese President Xi Jinping's trust in Trump, built up during their first diplomatic encounter in Palm Beach, Florida on April 6-7, 2017. During the meeting, Trump promised efforts to build "a very, very great relationship" between the two countries.
If President Trump wantonly sells weapons to Taiwan, violating the sacrosanct "One-China" principle, China would have little encouragement to partner with the U.S. government on international issues considered of vital importance in Washington.
Besides the arms sales, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2017-18, which contains controversial provisions about re-establishing regular port calls by the U.S. Navy at Kaohsiung or any other suitable port in Taiwan and permitting the U.S. Pacific Command to receive reciprocal visits by Taiwan.
This provoked a strong protest from China. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated that China had always opposed any official and military exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, and the latest moves would cause serious harm.
The 37 years of continuing American arms sales to Taiwan have caused considerable trouble to Sino-U.S. relations, once again raising the question of how sincerely the U.S. treats the One-China policy, and how much it respects China's core interests.
On the one hand, the U.S. government says it honors the one-China policy, while continuing to use the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) of 1979 to justifying "defensive" arms sales. That act, signed by President Jimmy Carter, is now completely out of date.
Historically, the island of Taiwan is just as much an inalienable part of China as Long Island has been to New York and the United States. The government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government of China, a fact recognized by the United Nations and over 160 countries including United States of America.
On January 1, 1979, the United States officially established diplomatic relations with China, confirming it would sever its "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan, withdraw its military forces there, and terminate the Mutual Defense Treaty.
For the past 37 years, the U.S. has violated the basic principles enshrined in the three joint communiqués covering relations with China. The Bush and Obama administrations each sold over $12 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan. It is high time for such violations to come to an end, to the benefit of both China and the United States.
The secessionists in Taiwan should recognize it is a delusion that the U.S. will spill blood coming to the defense of Taiwan. The Trump administration is using Taiwan as "bargaining chip" to get other things from China. Ultimately, the Taiwanese authorities may well regret being a pawn of Trump and his radical policies.
Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and her deluded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) followers had better wake up, acknowledge their mistakes, and face the reality of the 1992 Consensus on cross-Straits relations. There is no other alternative.
The U.S. administration has been talking about a strategic "rebalancing" in regard to Asia; however, the most urgent rebalancing act is to stop selling weapons to Taiwan and to stop overt and covert official contacts with Taiwan as in interests of Asia-Pacific peace and even that of the world at large.
Rabi Sankar Bosu, Secretary of New Horizon Radio Listeners' Club, West Bengal, India
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