America Is Paving the Way for Selling Weapons to Taiwan

Upon seeing the Pentagon’s newly-released 2011 report on China’s military and security, many Chinese must feel that the U.S. government is harping on the same string again. The U.S. Department of Defense plays by the same rules each year, producing a report on China which appeals to some congressmen’s desires to interfere in other countries’ domestic affairs.

Such reports have been made for several consecutive years, and they have generally repeated themselves. Such reports are like chicken bones; they are tasteless, but one is unwilling to throw them away. U.S. politics has reached a stage at which its policy toward China consists of mere formalities. Without loud complaints about China’s growing military might, who would American weapons companies (which form a powerful interest group) sell their products to?

Looking at this year’s report, it seems that there are two new concepts. One is that China’s modernized army may be used as a weapon to increase its diplomatic leverage or settle disputes in its favor; officials in the Pentagon expressed their serious concern about this. The other one is a call to increase intelligence about China’s development of aircraft carriers, anti-ship missiles and airplanes.

Truthfully, these two concepts are nothing new. What big country’s diplomacy is not supported by its military power? America itself is an example of this. Also, while the aircraft carrier may be new to China, it is not new at all for developed countries like the U.S. or even some less developed countries. Why can’t China develop one if other countries already have it? Moreover, if other countries’ aircraft carriers are not threats, then why is China’s?

Nevertheless, if we have to say that there is something new in the report, then what we need to pay attention to is the time at which the report was released. Right before the report was released, some American congressmen criticized the Pentagon for putting off the report’s completion for five months in order to please China. Of course, these people don’t just care about whether or not the Pentagon is following procedures; some of them are also promoting the sale of weapons to Taiwan. One of them even went the factory of Lockheed Martin, a company which manufactures the F-16 fighter.

In terms of timing, the release of the Pentagon’s report may not be uncoordinated with the congressional clamoring. The two events may even have been deliberately made to coincide. U.S. lawmakers want the weapons deal with Taiwan to be made on National Day of the People’s Republic of China, which is about one month from now. Therefore, now is the perfect time to start warming up. In addition, America’s Vice President Biden has just finished his visit to China. There seems to be no major projects or events between China and the U.S. for a period of time.

In fact, before Washington D.C. takes any action regarding China, it always carefully calculates the timing. If the timing is not right, Washington may offend China and cause damage in the big picture. If the military report was released before May, the atmosphere of U.S.-China military communication would no doubt have been destroyed; the Pentagon is not that stupid. The problem is that as the U.S. and China become increasingly close, it will get trickier to figure out how not to offend China.

In terms of its content, the report implied that China’s growing military power will destroy the stability of Asia-Pacific area and that Taiwan is still the main target of China’s military modernization. The report said that when it comes to military power, the balance between mainland China and Taiwan is swinging in favor of Beijing. After the report was released, Taiwanese authorities immediately claimed that it proved the problem of imbalance that Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has been talking about for so long. It is said that President Ma called upon the U.S. to sell defensive weapons like F-16 C/D and F-16 A/B fighters under the Tawian Relations Act as soon as possible.

The way is already completely paved. What will come next in this play which was staged for the purpose of giving weapons to Taiwan? Will Washington D.C. do as some congressmen have suggested and sell 66 F-16 fighters to Taiwan at once? I’m afraid this is the topic we should focus on.

The author is a senior reporter for People’s Daily.