Beijing strongly opposes latest US arms sales to Taiwan

Beijing strongly opposes United States’ arms sales to Taiwan under any pretext, An Fengshan, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday.

“We resolutely oppose any form of official exchanges and military contacts between the Taiwan region and the US. Any act of relying on foreign forces for self-elevation or sabotaging the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits is sure to reap bad consequences,” he said at a news conference in Beijing.

On Tuesday, the US State Department approved the sale of military spare parts worth $330 million to Taiwan, including those for F-16 fighters, C-130 cargo planes and other aircraft, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.

Tang Yonghong, deputy director of the Taiwan Research Center at Xiamen University in Fujian province, said the sale was no larger than recent transactions, but it happened during a time of tensions between Beijing and Washington.

“During such confrontation, the US will use various bargaining chips including using Taiwan,” he said, adding that Taiwan authorities also wish to take advantage of US power to oppose Beijing.

“So the sale is just an excuse for Taiwan and the US to use each other so that the US can reach the strategic goal of suppressing China by playing the Taiwan card,” he said.

Tang said the sale is likely to intensify the confrontational status across the Straits and not help maintain the peace and stability of bilateral relations.

Beijing has strongly protested the sale and urged Washington to immediately withdraw the deal and cease military contacts with Taiwan to avoid more damage to Sino-US relations and stability across the Straits.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday that the arms sales severely contravene international law and basic norms governing international relations, and severely violate the one-China principle and the principles of the three ChinaUS joint communiques.

He also added that China has lodged “stern representations” with the US.

The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on Tuesday that the Chinese military is strongly dissatisfied and demands the US immediately cancel the deal and stop military exchanges with Taiwan.

“The arms sales to Taiwan have seriously violated the oneChina policy, interfere with the country’s domestic affairs and harm Chinese sovereignty and security interests, as well as Sino-US relations,” it said.

An Fengshan also urged Taiwan on Wednesday to immediately stop any infiltration activities that damage national security, and to better protect mainland students.

An made the remarks in response to news of several espionage cases in which some mainland students were incited to provide confidential information to Taiwan’s spy network.

He said the security authorities cracked down on such cases in accordance with the law and in an aim to maintain national security and stability of relations across the Straits, as well as safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of compatriots on both sides.

Taiwan authorities have evaded the facts, confused right and wrong, and put the blame on the Chinese mainland, An said, adding that “the facts will speak stronger than words”.

“The Chinese mainland has always encouraged more youth exchanges across the Straits, but Taiwan’s intelligence agencies have put their dirty hands on young innocent mainland students in a despicable way. Their actions have severely damaged the students’ interests as well as the educational exchanges,” he said.

Three years before entering the White House, US President Donald Trump tweeted that his country needs “a president who isn’t a laughingstock to the entire world”, “a truly great leader, a genius at strategy and winning”. The laughter he drew at the United Nations General Assembly notwithstanding, he is almost there, at least in his own eyes, for his administration “has accomplished more than almost any administration” in US history and “the United States is a stronger, safer and a richer country” than when he assumed office “less than two years ago”.

It did not matter to Trump that he was touting his achievements to the wrong audience. His self-gratification may have been a harmless comic episode to the other national leaders and diplomats at the UN General Assembly. But his elaboration of US foreign policy is very bad news for the rest of the world.

What Trump delivered was tantamount to a farewell to the postWorld War II world order featuring multilateralism, if not globalism.

Most countries will welcome Trump’s statement that “the US will not tell you how to live and work or worship. We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return”. Few would argue against Trump embracing the “doctrine of patriotism”. Even “America First” is fine, as long as it does not cause harm to others.

But his rejection of the ideology of “globalism” is contrary to even his own claim that his government is “also standing up for the world”. His speech sends a clear message that the US, which in his words will “soon be more powerful than it has ever been before”, will go it alone and break away from the global governance regime which it helped build in the first place.

To Trump, the UN, a core institution and platform of postwar global governance, is “an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy” to which his government “will never surrender America’s sovereignty”.

The “independence and cooperation” Trump seeks is evidently not what multilateral institutions such as the UN stand for. Trump’s refusal to accept such longstanding, and mostly effective multilateral global governance mechanisms will cause an immeasurable loss to the international community, and significantly undermine global peace and security as far as such crucial institutions as the UN Security Council are concerned.

French President Emmanuel Macron rightly emphasized that “confronting multilateralism is not a sign of strength, rather it is a symptom of the weakness of intellect”.

Macron could also have said, an isolationist and protectionist US cannot go too far in its pursuit of greatness.