Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Wednesday, October 28, 2009 10:10 am TWN, By Frank Ching, Special to The China Post

China should scrap missile threat

But this does not mean that the United States is dependent on China. What it means is that the two countries are increasingly dependent on each other. President Barack Obama in addressing a meeting of senior Chinese and American officials in July said, “The relationship between the United States and China will shape the 21st century.”

That underlines the importance of the bilateral relationship, but it is a partnership that is important to both sides.

It is true, as Chinese officials have emphasized, that each side must be solicitous of the other's core interests. By this Beijing means that the United States should understand that Taiwan is among China's core interests.

But while the United States welcomes the current increasing warmth in the cross-strait relationship, it is still bound by law to ensure that Taiwan has the means to defend itself if necessary. As long as China acts in a threatening manner towards Taiwan, the government in Taipei, regardless of which party is in power, will seek the arms with which to defend its people and its territory.

And as long as Taiwan seeks to buy weapons with which to defend itself, the United States cannot simply dismiss these out of hand. It will have to make an assessment of the threat facing Taiwan and its need for specific weapons.

So, if China wants the United States to stop selling arms to Taiwan, the best thing it can do is to scale down its military threat to Taiwan. The scrapping of the 1,000-plus missiles aimed at Taiwan is a good first step.

China seems to have taken the position that the removal or dismantling of its missiles can only come about as a result of peace negotiations with Taiwan. That is to say, it wants Taiwan to pay a price for the removal of this threat.

However, the mainland should realize that continuing to step up military pressure on Taiwan is counterproductive. It will simply provide ammunition to the opposition party in Taiwan, which is relentless in accusing Ma of kowtowing to China.

Ma has said that as long as China still threatens Taiwan, he will not hold peace talks with the mainland. That is a reasonable position to take. After all, how can anyone negotiate with an adversary who is holding a gun to his head?

Frank.ching@gmail.com

1|2

Share

Print

Email


Sponsors
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 70% for hotel in Shanghai and 6000 hotels, in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and all China.