“The number continues to go up,” he told the Reuters news agency. “That is certainly a great concern for the people here.”

While Beijing has been willing to accommodate Taiwan in such areas as economic cooperation, slightly more international space and a diplomatic truce, it has not done much in terms of reducing military pressure. And while it continues to increase its military capabilities, it is also putting pressure on the United States to halt or at least reduce arms sales to Taiwan.

This is not in Taiwan's interests and, ultimately, it is not in China's interests as well. Beijing's top priority right now should be to enhance Ma's standing among the voters so as to ensure his re-election in 2012. If Ma is defeated in the next presidential election, the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party will return to power and cross-straits tensions will inevitably heighten again.

It is extremely short-sighted of Beijing to enhance military pressure on the Ma administration. China's military power is already much greater than that of Taiwan and it would be irresponsible for Ma, or any other leader, to ignore this growing imbalance.

The natural result is that Taipei will seek arms purchases from the United States to try to reduce the military imbalance between the two sides of the strait.

If Beijing wants Washington to reduce arms sales to Taiwan, it should demonstrate that there is little or no military threat from the mainland. By continuing to increase the number of missiles threatening Taiwan, Beijing is ensuring that the American government will have little choice but to make sophisticated weapons available to Taiwan.

It is true that the United States increasingly needs China's cooperation in the resolution of international and regional issues, such as climate change, the global financial crisis, Iran's quest for nuclear weapons and the North Korean nuclear issue.

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