As the Chinese President, Hu Jin-Tao has his three day state visit to the US in Washington this week it will become more apparent about the issues that are on the table with the rise of China and its more heightening military presence. Last week 25 members of the US senate signed a letter in support for Taiwan around the same time the J-20 stealth aircraft was announced and DF-21C anti-ship missile became more popular when world media publicised it as their main material.
January 30th 2010 – The United States sold arms to Taiwan. They included the sale of the Partiot anti-missile system, mine-sweeping ships, helicopters, communication devices at a total cost of around $6 billion; and last year being the 2nd package in the deal. ($USD) China protested to the sale and threatened to stop all military cooperation with the United States. – Which by some analysts perspectives believe that cooperation between the two countries with China sometimes described as a super power or emerging super power will help go towards world peace.
During the visit it is expected that issues such as Iran, internet freedom, cyber security, North Korea and human rights are to be some of the topics to be discussed. However it is thought that the Obama Administration will try to downplay Taiwan in order to divert attention away. Though should the US stay firm on their part in helping the security of Taiwan? The Obama Administration has said that they would like to improve relations with China, however will Taiwan’s defense treaties with the US come as a cost.
Defense minister Liu of China stated last year when the arms sales took place between the U.S.:
“There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, Liu said. The Taiwan issue is China’s internal affair which other countries have no right to meddle in.”
While the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) considers Taiwan as their territory the people on the island as well as the political powers in control on Taiwan mostly consider it to be independent of PRC control. It is a facade which the United States over the years has supported the Republic of China (ROC) which has possibly deterred any attack on the small island of Taiwan. – Which apparently there are a 1,000 missiles targeted at the island by the Peoples Republic of China.
It is because of this that 25 members of the senate signed a letter urging the Obama Administration to make clear its position on the issue of Taiwan. It also went on to talk about the Chinese military build-up and that over the years it has not stepped down the talk of using force on Taiwan. The letter then ends using the Chinese “large-scale military build up” and the on-going threat that China will use force against Taiwan if it tries to declare independence as the reason for Taiwan requiring the use of defensive weapons from the United States.
Should Obama bring up talks of Taiwan in discussions with President Hu-Jin Tao?
It is clear that 25 members of the US senate believe that Taiwan should be brought up or more specifically that the US will provide weapons to secure Taiwan’s defense. The question however remains, should it actually be brought up in talks when the Chinese President visits Washington. The stability in the region can almost be determined by healthy relations between the world super-power that is the U.S. and the so-called emerging super-power that is the Peoples Republic of China. Should the relationship between the countries be threatened by a small island which plays no real large role in the world. Or should the U.S. stick to principles to defending a democracy to which it has fought dearly for in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
Or could Taiwan become side-tracked while secretly being supported by the U.S., so that it won’t have to be brought up in any talks? Whatever the case, it highly undermines the sovereignty of Taiwan in the case that the U.S. stops publicly supporting Taiwan.
