The freeze imposed by the administration of US President George W. Bush on arms sales to Taiwan, now lifted for the most part, had nothing to do with congressional procedure, because the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency had already notified Congress of arms sales to France, Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Even though it had lost confidence in former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) government, the Bush administration still agreed to plans last year to sell twelve P-3C marine patrol aircraft and 144 SM-2 missiles to help Taiwan defend against cruise missiles and aircraft threats.
The US government’s subsequent freeze on the arms deal that was eventually supported by the government of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) then proved that the US had lost confidence in the Ma administration.
When the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was in opposition, its legislators and their allies vehemently opposed what they called an overpriced arms procurement deal. Not long after the Ma administration took power, there were rumors that it told the US government that it would not purchase arms from Washington.
Any such actions may have infuriated the Bush administration, leading to its decision to freeze the deal. However, the fundamental reason for this decision was that the US government had lost confidence in Ma’s security agenda.
Despite the fact that the US maintains a close relationship with China on trade and international politics, US policies toward Asia have always shown that the US sees China as a potential opponent in the region.
Thus, in strategic terms, not only does the US government cooperate with Japan while building its relations with other Asian allies, it also maintains forward-deployed forces in the Pacific region to contain China’s ambition to expand militarily.
Given this state of affairs, the US would be hurting itself if high-tech arms and technology sold to Taiwan eventually fell into Chinese hands.
Although the US is happy to see cross-strait relations remain peaceful and stable, it has never wanted Taiwan to become dependent on China.
However, the Ma administration’s blind tilting toward China has caused the US to worry that Ma is likely to seek unification.
Thus in late August, American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt said that Taipei should refrain from implying that China has sovereignty over Taiwan and instead insist that China not have a final say on whether Taiwan can participate in international activities. It was the first time that the US government had extended a strong warning of this nature to Taiwan.
The Bush administration’s freeze of the arms procurement deal was a second warning. If there is to be a third, it will be a strikeout, and this is something that the Ma administration should note well.
Chen Kuo-hsiung is vice general-secretary of World United Formosans for Independence and general-secretary of the Taiwan National Security Institute.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
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