Tribune

by Marcus Papadopoulos

Relations between the United States and China have hit a new low point following Washington’s announcement that it intends to supply Taiwan with an arms package worth $6.4 billion (£4 billion).

In compliance with the Taiwan Relations Act 1979, an American piece of legislation which obliges any US government “to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character”, Barack Obama’s administration last week proposed an arms sale to Taipei which, if approved by Congress, will see the delivery of Black Hawk helicopters, a Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile system and Osprey Class mine hunting ships to the Taiwanese government.

The US State Department justified the weapons sale by saying it would provide additional “security and stability” to relations between Beijing and Taipei.

However, the Chinese government lambasted Washington’s decision and warned it could undermine Beijing’s efforts to help resolve the West’s standoff with Iran and North Korea. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said that the US should “truly respect China’s core interests and major concerns and stop selling arms to Taiwan to avoid damaging broader China-US relations”.

Beijing is acutely aware that the selling of US military equipment to Taiwan could enable the latter to withstand an invasion by the People’s Liberation Army with the aim of reunifying the island with the Chinese mainland.

Although impressive on paper, much of the Chinese military’s equipment lacks modern technology and this predicament has been made worse since Russia stopped selling sophisticated arms to Beijing nearly two years ago.

The PLA has been referred to by some military analysts as “the largest armed forces museum in the world”