The American Spectator : Squaring the Triangle: America, China, and Taiwan

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Special Report

Squaring the Triangle: America, China, and Taiwan

By Doug Bandow on 6.1.11 @ 6:09AM

The critical importance of U.S. arms sales to Taipei.

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In the meantime, the U.S. should permit arms sales that enable Taipei to maintain a military deterrent just as China is building a deterrent to America. Taiwan is wealthy, but falling further behind the PRC in overall economic strength. Thus, Taipei should not "try to match the PRC ship for ship, plane for plane, or missile for missile," as the Washington-based Taiwan Policy Working Group observed. Rather, Taipei should build a small but deadly force capable of exacting a high price from any attackers.

Last year's weapons package included Harpoon and Patriot missiles, mine-detection ships, Blackhawk helicopters, and communications equipment. Washington put off any decision on advanced F-16s and diesel submarines. But Taiwan is now pressing for the fighters and subs.

The Obama administration should say yes.

China might retaliate diplomatically. But empowering Taiwan is worth risking tenser relations with the PRC. After all, arms sales do not put America and China on a path to war. Rather, they create a disincentive for Beijing to consider war as an option, irrespective of Washington's perceived willingness to intervene.

Moreover, while U.S.-Chinese ties may be warming, Beijing remains recalcitrant on important issues like North Korea. Indeed, the North's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il has made another visit to the PRC, his third in a year, presumably to beg for more aid.

Indeed, China has been expanding ties with Pyongyang even as the latter has provoked South Korea almost to war. Beijing also subsidizes other pariah regimes, such as Burma and Zimbabwe. The PRC is determined to pursue what it perceives to be its national interest. So should the U.S.

Ultimately, a reasonable accommodation between China and Taiwan is more likely if Taipei possesses the ability to defend itself. Of course, Taipei should not be purely reliant on America. Then its security will depend on the vagaries of politics in Washington as well as the state of U.S.-Chinese relations. Noted Liu Yu-jiun of Taiwan's Fo Guang University: "If you put too much emphasis on imports and something goes sour between importer and exporter, you end up with an empty hand."

Taiwan recently deployed its third generation of Brave Wind anti-ship missiles. Taipei also is considering production of the Hsiung Feng-2E ballistic missile. Even a small strategic deterrent would force the PRC to hesitate before threatening Taiwan.

Ultimately, Washington's objective in helping enable Taipei to defend itself is to ensure that the latter never actually has to do so. Peace is in the interest of Taiwan, China, and the U.S. Washington should promote a good relationship with the PRC. But the U.S. should view continuing arms sales to Taipei as perhaps the best means to maintain stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait.

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About the Author

Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).

Letter to the Editor View all comments (13) | Leave a comment

dee see| 6.1.11 @ 6:25AM

"Squaring the triangle'?

ENOUGH with the coy allusions to deadly
Social Darwinist capstone FREEMASONRY
---esp. when touching on one of their 'fave'
operations --the destruction of classical Chinese
culture via opium and MAO ---and the current
'EUGENICS friendly' model so beloved of David Rockefeller,
Ted Turner,Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch.

BTW --note the lack of ANY quality coverage
of this Monday's Anniversary of the outbreak
of the perpetually 'EUGENICS friendly' KOREAN WAR.

Texas Engineer| 6.1.11 @ 9:01AM

Um dee see...perhaps you should read some OTHER history books. The NK's crossed the 38th Parallel to initiate hostilities on June 25th 1950.

maximumrandb| 6.1.11 @ 9:25AM

Dear Mr. Bandow:

To your point that the PRC is not patrolling American waters, but the U.S. is patrolling Western Pacific waters, it should be acknowledged that the U.S. has official bilateral defense agreements with South Korea, Japan and the Phillipines (and an informal agreement with Taiwan). China has no such agreements with any nations in the American littoral. Moreover, the U.S. has territory in the region, e.g. Guam. So our presence in the region has both a diplomatic and sovereignty basis.

Cordially,

Dan Hirsch| 6.1.11 @ 9:46AM

Doug,

You are talking to Obama and Mrs. Clinton, 'member. Tell them that they should NOT help the Taiwanese to defend themselves, then, maybe, just maybe, you'll get the results you desire.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama obviously never did very well on the playground during recess. By this I mean neither has any detectable understanding of alliances, friends, and BULLIES!

Sheesh - bloody idiots, they are.

Leroi| 6.1.11 @ 9:46PM

"Chinese military officers joined the discussions and toured American military facilities afterwards. "

And what did they discuss? US Military things?

And how did the US visits to Chinese military facilities go?

dee see| 6.1.11 @ 10:22PM

The KOREAN WAR was green lighted from
Beijing ---opened with the greatest artillery
and rocket attack in history and soon ABSOLUTELY taken over by the RED Chinese.

Fact is MORE Chinese died in Korea than North
Koreans.

The fact also is that, as American forces were
poised to virtually throw the RED Chinese and
NK forces out ---was betrayed by Dean Rusk
acting on behalf of the Dean Acheson/Averell
Harriman RED China set up cabal.

MILLIONS of KOREANS have died since
'peace' was established.

5000 AMERICANS and tens of thousands
of others remain 'missing' and unaccounted
for to this day.

AT this moment NK receives over 90% of
its electric power from RED China.

IF Korea were to be an open and united nation
after 35 years of largely Roosevelt (Teddy)
greenlighted Japanese colonization ---and 60
plus years of Globalist RED Chinese supported police
state and EUGENICS ----as every 'innie' knows
---RED China itself will be OVER.

GET REAL---------------------------------

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Zbigniew Mazurak| 6.2.11 @ 2:23AM

Utter gibberish from the ignorant, anti-American, isolationist Doug Bandow. Firstly, the US defense budget constitutes just 3.5% of GDP and the entire military budget amounts to merely 4.6% of GDP, so there is zero risk of the US military bankrupting the US.

Secondly, weapons capable of defeating access-denial weapons are much cheaper than traditional weapons such as carriers. One carrier costs $5-6 bn. One Virginia class submarine costs $1.8-2 bn, i.e. 3 times less. But then you also have to buy all the aircraft for that carrier as well, so its total cost could be $10 bn, which could pay for as many as five Virginia class submarines. They are the quietest submarines in the world.

Thirdly, China DOES pose a strategic threat to the US homeland - not just to Hawaii and Alaska, but also to the CONUS - with its hundreds of ballistic missiles, spies, cyber warfare units, and SSBNs, one of which launched a JL-2 SLBM near California's cost last year.

Fourthly, the claim that China has not been sending ships near the US coast or anywhere else other than its own coasts is a blatant lie. It has been sending its ships globally, not just to protect sealanes important to it, but also to America's coast (see above).

Fifth, the claim that its ambitions are limited is also a blatant lie. China claims a large number of islands plus the entire Western Pacific, which it claims is an internal Chinese sea. China is also itching for a war with the US. One Chinese colonel has said of Americans, "we must make them hurt". Another one promised the US "a hand-to-hand fight". Hu Jintao has promoted many hawkish generals to high offices. Two generals, Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, are members of the CPC's Politburo, although neither of them is a member of the PSC, the highest party organ.

Sixth, the claim that the US and Communist China have shared interests is a blatant lie. China is not interested in an open economy, it's interested in protecting its own industry and walling it off from foreign competitors. China is not interested in a stable East Asia; in fact, it's doing everything it can to destabilize it to make problems for the US.

The US should rebuild its military AND sell Taiwan any weapons it needs to defend itself, including F-22s and F-35s.