Editorial: On Taiwan Arms Sales, China's Bark May Be Worse Than Its Bite

A Perry-class Frigate (Image: Wiki Commons)

By Shannon Tiezzi

Putting Beijing’s response to the U.S. arms sale to Taiwan in some historical context.

As The Diplomat reported yesterday, the Obama administration just notified Congress of a $1.83 billion arms sale package for Taiwan. The arms sale – headlined by two Perry-class frigates – had been expected for months and none of the content came as a surprise. However, Beijing, as usual denounced the arms sale as an act that “severely undermines China’s sovereignty and security interests.”

In addition to the usual diplomatic anger that follow such arms sales – warnings that it will harm U.S.-China ties, particularly military relations – Beijing made a new announcement. According to Xinhua, when Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summed Kaye Lee, the charge d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, Zheng warned that “China has decided to take necessary measures, including imposing sanctions against the companies involved in the arms sale.” The major companies represented in the arms deal are Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.

Asked to provide details on the sanctions Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said, “The involvement of U.S. enterprises in the arms sale to Taiwan severely undermines China’s sovereignty and security interests. The Chinese government and enterprises will not conduct cooperation or business with such enterprises.”

Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of National Defense warned that the sale will impact military-to-military relations between the United States and China. “The United States’ wrongdoing of selling arms to Taiwan will inevitably harm China-U.S. military relations,” spokesperson Yang Yujun said in a press release.

“We strongly urge the U.S. government to … cancel the announced arms sale to Taiwan, stop arms sales to Taiwan and cut U.S.-Taiwan military ties, thus preventing further damage to China-U.S. military ties and overall relations,” Yang continued.

So we have two threatened response from China to the latest arms sale to Taiwan: sanctioning the U.S. firms involved and scaling back military relations. Neither of these threats are new – so let’s take a look at how Beijing has delivered on its warnings in the past.

Read the full story at The Diplomat