President Barack Obama has worked diligently to keep U.S. diplomatic relations with China on an even keel since taking office. Doing so is good policy. There are many issues that already divide the nations with the world’s largest economies. Why purposely create new ones? The president’s determination to maintain a firm but cordial relationship, though, is undermined by Chinese intransigence. The latest example: Beijing’s wildly intemperate response to a U.S. decision to sell weapons to Taiwan.
The reaction shouldn’t be a surprise. China is notoriously prickly about Taiwan, which it regards as a rebellious province rather than a sovereign nation. Thus, the weapon sale to Taiwan is viewed as a direct assault on Chinese authority. That’s a terrifically skewed view.
This is not the first time the United States has sold weapons to Taiwan. It does so regularly. Indeed, the United States is required by law — the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act — to sell defensive weapons to the island nation. The current sale has its origins in the Bush administration, but that is a matter of timing, not politics. Administrations of both parties have supported Taiwan in similar fashion for years.
The arms included in the $6.4 billion arms sale are hardly a threat to China. All the materiel — anti-missile systems, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, mine-hunting ships and communications and surveillance equipment — to be sold is , as the law requires, defensive in nature. It will be used to protect Taiwan, not to attack China.
China conveniently overlooks those facts, insisting instead that the sale will “undermine China-U.S. relations and bring about serious negative impact on exchanges and cooperation in major areas between the two countries,” according to a Chinese diplomat. His prophecy quickly became self-fulfilling.