By Le Shui
China's Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement on May 20, announcing that it would add multiple companies, including Boeing Defense, Space & Security, to its unreliable entity list as they sold arms to China's Taiwan region, and would impose restrictions on the activities of relevant companies and executives in China. This is the second time since the release of the Provisions on the Unreliable Entity List in September 2020 that China has included foreign companies engaged in arms sales to Taiwan on this list. China's legal sanctions on foreign companies selling arms to Taiwan fully reflect the Chinese government's determination and will to firmly safeguard national sovereignty.
In the Joint Communiqué of the People's Republic of China and the United States of America signed on August 17, 1982, the US promised that "it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan" and "it intends gradually to reduce its sales of arms to Taiwan". However, over the past 42 years since then, the US has never truly honored its promise. Statistics show that from the severance of its so-called diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 to 2022, the US conducted 107 arms sales to Taiwan. The US announced 13 arms sales to Taiwan during the Biden administration alone. Additionally, the US foreign aid bill signed on April 24 this year specifically allocated US$1.9 billion to provide defense items and services to regional partners, including Taiwan.
Arms sales to Taiwan work as a key tool in the US strategy of "containing China with Taiwan." In recent years, to bind Taiwan tightly to its chariot of the Indo-Pacific strategy, the US has passed a series of bills, such as the "Taiwan Travel Act" and the "Taiwan Defense Assessment Commission Act", attempting to institutionalize and "legalize" arms sales to Taiwan. The fundamental purpose is to use Taiwan as a pawn to contain China's development and thereby reinforce its global hegemony.
From another perspective, the US hegemonic ambitions have also become a lifeline for "Taiwan independence" separatists. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities in Taiwan fantasize about relying on the US to seek independence and rejecting reunification by force with the help of US weapons. However, the DPP's constant pandering to the US cannot bring peace and security to Taiwan. The so-called rock-solid relationship between the US and the Taiwan region is merely wishful thinking by "Taiwan independence" separatists. Under the guise of "protecting Taiwan", the US treats Taiwan as a cash machine. The DPP authorities are prone to squandering the hard-earned money of the Taiwan people, paying "protection fees" to the US to maintain their long-term governance.
The DPP authorities continue to purchase outdated weapons from the US at high prices, keeping silent despite knowing they are being taken advantage of. For example, the air force of the Taiwan region spent NT$40 billion on long-range early warning radar from the US, with maintenance costs reaching NT$11 billion over five years. In 2020, Taiwan's purchase of Patriot Advanced Capability 3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3MSE) from the US set a new high with maintenance costs of NT$18.2 billion. According to media reports in Taiwan, the US has sold about $17 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan since July 2019, but projects worth $14.2 billion have yet to be delivered.
The DPP authorities believe that paying "protection fees" to the US can ensure their safety, but they fail to realize this is a path to self-destruction. Various sources indicate that the US is secretly planning to destroy Taiwan. In May 2022, an article in the US Naval Institute's Proceedings suggested that to prevent the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) from landing in Taiwan, the US should adopt scorched-earth tactics and destroy Taiwan's infrastructure if necessary. In April 2023, US congressman Seth Moulton said that in the event of a conflict across the Taiwan Strait, the US will blow up TSMC. These "destroy Taiwan" statements clearly show that Taiwan is merely a pawn for the US to contain China, and once it loses its value, this pawn will be discarded.
However, "Taiwan independence" separatists still cling to their fantasies of relying on the US to seek independence. In the "inauguration speech" on May 20, Lai Ching-te brazenly claimed that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are "not subordinate to each other", shamelessly thanking the US for its foreign aid bill. Lai's speech was a blatant declaration of "Taiwan independence", and his unabashed "independence" stance has even taken 23 million Taiwan compatriots as "hostages". Taiwan compatriots should realize that US arms sales to Taiwan cannot ensure Taiwan's security. Instead, they heighten cross-strait tensions, impede Taiwan's development, and even push Taiwan into a dangerous situation of war.
Therefore, China's sanctions against foreign companies selling arms to Taiwan are a clear signal to those companies, the US government, and "Taiwan independence" separatists. The Taiwan question is at the very core of China's core interest, and any attempt to undermine the one-China principle and obstruct China's reunification is doomed to failure.
The future of Taiwan lies in reunification, and its security depends on the joint efforts of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait under the one-China principle, rather than the US's arms sales to Taiwan. We advise the DPP authorities not to underestimate the determination and capability of the Chinese people to achieve the complete reunification of the motherland and should give up dependence on US arms as soon as possible, recognize the 1992 Consensus, and return to the correct track of peaceful and political settlement of the cross-Strait issue.
Editor's note: Originally published on China.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
