The Weekly Standard poses the same question we did a few days ago: why is the Bush Administration delaying planned arms sales to Taiwan?
Put another way, if the current White House kicks this can down the road, Taipei may find it virtually impossible to modernize its arsenal. An Obama Administration would almost certainly reject any arms sales to Taiwan, lest Beijing be offended.
Meanwhile, the PRC continues its own, massive military build-up along the strait. Back in 1995, Beijing set a goal of deploying 500 ballistic missiles near Taiwan by the end of that decade. Thirteen years later, there are more than 1,000 missiles, mostly CSS-6 and CSS-7s, threatening Taiwan.
I have an unpleasant feeling that there is something of a bipartisan consensus on selling out Taiwan. We do seem bent on outsourcing our industry and debt to the PRC after all.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see some analysis from you on what circumstances would US politcal leaders choose to ignore potential threats from Taiwan.
ReplyDeleteChina, is increasingly excelling at isolating Taiwan by pressuring potential trading and recognition partners. This is especially evident in the pacrim where aid wars occur.
Anyway, would love to see a post analysing US flagging intentions in the Taiwan Straits.
"Anyway, would love to see a post analysing US flagging intentions in the Taiwan Straits."
ReplyDeleteThat would be of interest.
The administration is walking a tightrope on China.
ReplyDeleteThe nuclear negotiations with N. Korea wouldn't have gotten out of the box were it not for China getting on board. China had always shied away from threats of cutting off food supplies to Kim as much out of the fear of a massive refugee problem as not wanting to depose a fellow communist leader. Also, above all, they did not want a military crisis on their border during the upcoming Olympics.
It was mainly because of China's leverage that the nuclear negotiations succeeded. President Bush's quick announcement that he wouldn't boycott the opening of the Olympics, as some European leaders had after the Tibet suppression, was payback to the Chinese.
You can never be all things to all people. On the scale of world threats, solving the Korean nuclear problem has taken priority. And rightly so.
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