US, Hardening Line on China, Approves $1 Billion Arms Sale to Taiwan

The US State Department announced on Thursday (29 June) that the Trump administration had informed Congress of its intention to approve seven proposed sales to the Tsai Ing-wen government in Taipei. But Trump’s pre-emptive strike could backfire badly.

Beijing has also given Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen the cold shoulder since she took power previous year because she leads an independence-leaning ruling party and refuses to recognize the One China policy, which forms the basis of Chinese diplomacy and policy-making and determines Sino-U.S. relations.

While China has worked hard to get Trump to understand the importance of Taiwan to the China-U.S. relationship, it has never seriously expected Washington to stop selling it weapons, provision for which is explicitly made in U.S. law. That’s a bit like the People’s Liberation Army building gun emplacements on Long Island.

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted to allow regular stops by U.S. naval vessels as part of an annual defence-policy measure, signalling a major change in USA policy towards Taiwan, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

It covers eight items Taiwan asked for past year, which are expected to enhance the nation’s air and naval defenses, as well as its early-warning capabilities, the ministry said.

The Senate bill also directs the Pentagon to help Taiwan develop an undersea warfare programme and recommends strengthened strategic cooperation with Taipei.

Beijing is yet to comment on the size and scope of the joint US-Australian drills. The battleship exercises, involving 33,000 personnel, reflect heightened tensions over what Washington views as Chinese military expansionism in the South China Sea.

There was a commonly-held perception that the USA has been restricting sales of weapons to Taiwan in recent years. -China bilateral relationship under past administrations.

Trump plans to meet Xi again on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany next week, US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters. While the two leaders were reported to have sparked a good rapport, relations appear to have soured on several fronts since. “There’s no change, I should point out, to our “one-China” policy”. He claimed to have succeeded.

Clearly, Trump is frustrated. “We appreciate their work and hope they will continue to work with us”. None of the latest USA actions is irreversible. “The secondary sanctions are not enough, we still need China to act”.

Wang Kung-yi, a professor of global relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University, said Taipei was aware the sales were meant to pressure Beijing to do more to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme. China has increased diplomatic pressure, cut off its contacts with the island’s government and discouraged travel there by Chinese tourists.

The Democratic Progressive Party authorities refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus and the core principle that the two sides of the Taiwan Straits belongs to one China, and take “dechinalize” measures in Taiwan.