Arms Sales to Taiwan Dangerous Game

The US government is playing a dangerous game by deciding to sell a large amount of sophisticated weapons to Taiwan, which includes four Kidd-class destroyers, eight diesel-engine submarines, 12 P-3C aircraft and a good many other advanced weapons.

The 5-billion-dollar deal is the largest between the United States and Taiwan after the 1992 decision by the former US president George Bush, father of the present US president, to sell 150 F-16 jet fighters to the island.

If not reversed, The Wednesday decision will inevitably lead to a deterioration in the situation in the Taiwan Straits, undermine the China-US relations, and cause long-term damage to the national interests of the two countries as well as to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.

It violated the three China-US joint communiques which have served as pivotal buttress for the relationship between the two countries over the past decades.

Under the joint communique signed on August 17, 1982, the US government pledges that "it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, and that it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution."

Nonetheless, in the past 20 years, the US government increased rather than decreased weapons sales to Taiwan under as many excuses as it could have possibly found. The International Herald Tribune said that the United States has sold about 21.5 billion dollars worth of advanced weaponry and other military equipment to Taiwan, a piece of Chinese territory 160 kilometers off the coast of China's mainland.

Observers said that the US breach of its solemn commitments is extremely irresponsible and seriously erodes its credibility as a major power in the world and that the violation of the three China-US joint communiques may shake the bedrock of the bilateral ties and cause instability or even chaos in cross-strait relations.

The US government, in order to justify its arms sales to Taiwan, invoked the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) the Congress adopted in 1979. It is absurd for the United States to apply a domestic legislation to protecting an island that falls out of American territory and sovereignty.

To vindicate its arms sale with the TRA testifies to the bullying arrogance of the United States in forcing its own will upon others, the observers said, adding that Washington' decision on arms sales also demonstrate that its Taiwan policy is self-contradictory and self-defeating

The Bush administration, like its predecessors, has insisted on a "peaceful solution" to the Taiwan issue, but the growing sales of sophisticated weapons could only do the opposite, dimming or even dooming the perspective of a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan issue, a legacy from China's civil war half a century ago.

The US claim that its arms sales are aimed at counter-weighing the missile buildup on the mainland and deterring Beijing from attacking Taiwan is totally groundless since it turns the facts upside down and puts the cart before the horse.

Over the last two decades, along with the reform and opening to the rest of the world, China has formulated a policy of "peaceful reunification and one country, two systems." China's military is by no means directed at the Taiwanese people but merely serves as a deterrent to the pro-independence forces in Taiwan.

The persistent US military transfusions have encouraged the pro-independence forces on the island to take more risks to split the island from the motherland, raising the possibility of a military conflict in the Taiwan Straits and posing a most dangerous threat to peace and stability in the region.

Statistics show that during 1994-1998, Taiwan purchased 13.3 billion dollars worth of weapons from abroad, including 8.1 billion dollars worth of weapons from the United States, and in 1999, Taiwan's import of weapons and military equipment reached 2.6 billion dollars, ranking the first in military procurement in the Asian-Pacific region. In per capita terms, Taiwan now stands as one of the largest defense spenders and arms purchasers in the world.

The continued and increased U.S. arms sales to Taiwan is like pouring oil upon a fire, and with the mounting pileup of American weapons and military equipment, Taiwan now has become a tinder box that may explode at any time, said the observers.

China treasures its hard-won relations with the United States, but it also holds that the relationship must be firmly based on the three China-US joint communiques and on the principles of mutual respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, non-aggression, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence.

The United States should not underestimate China's will for a peaceful reunification with the Taiwan Island. Just as the Lincoln administration stood firm against the separatist Confederation 140 years ago, the Chinese government opposes any attempt to tear away Taiwan from China. Those who attempt to block China's peaceful reunification by selling arms to Taiwan do make a miscalculation and will never achieve their goal.

The China-US relations are now at a delicate moment, and the US government should see the serious and dangerous consequences of its arms sales to Taiwan, and take immediate steps to redress the erroneous actions. This is the only way to ease the cross-strait tension and avoid another major setback in Sino-US relations.

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/