Obama challenges China and sells arms to Taiwan, Beijing: “It damages our relations”

The Pentagon WASHINGTON – After the Google affair, relations between China and the United States undergo another shake-up. The Obama administration, along the lines of that of George W. Bush, is preparing to sell arms to Taiwan for a value of 6 billion dollars. A move that could not fail to arouse the reaction of Beijing that considers the island a rebel province but an integral part of the motherland, which has repeatedly threatened the invasion. We are indignant, “said Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei, for a decision that” will have a negative impact “on the relations between the two powers.

The Pentagon has notified Congress of an authorization request to sell war material to Taiwan for $ 6.4 billion. The package includes 114 Patriot interceptor missiles (2.81 billion), 60 Black Hawk helicopters (3.1 billion), communications equipment for the F-16 fighter bombers in Taipei (340 million), 2 Osprey class minesweepers (105 million) and 12 Harpoon anti-ship missiles (37 million). This is the first communication of this kind made by the Obama administration. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley explained that “it is a clear demonstration of the administration’s commitment to provide Taiwan with the defensive armaments it needs”, stating that the US had not yet communicated to China their decision officially.

But China is not there. He Yafai has forwarded a formal protest to the American ambassador in Beijing, Jon Huntsman. “The US plans will definitely undermine Sino-US relations and will have an extremely negative impact on the exchange and cooperation between the two countries in the main sectors”, reads the message. For two years now, Beijing has suspended all military contact with the United States after then-President George W. Bush presented a project to sell arms to Taiwan in Congress in October 2008.

The relations between the People’s Republic and the United States are not going through a happy moment and indeed they have long been tense about many issues, including human rights, Tibet and security on commercial products. The trip to China in February by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to open a new chapter in relations between the two countries. In recent weeks, however, Sino-US relations have experienced a further tightening following the Google affair: the US openly accused China of “hacking” after the search engine announced that Chinese hackers had entered the boxes post of Chinese dissidents. China had rejected the charges, and a spokesman for the Ministry of Information had called Google’s claims “without foundation”.

(January 29, 2010)