US arms sales to Taiwan only worsen cross-Straits relations: China Daily editorial

Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and other secessionists on the island may feel exhilarated about the US State Department on Monday approving the potential sale to Taiwan of $2.2 billion in arms, considering the move to be a sign that they will be able to count on the United States for help should there be a military confrontation with the Chinese mainland.

And for those in the US who consider Taiwan as a pawn the US can use in its competition with China, the sale of arms represents not only a profitable deal, but also a hedge to maintain the status quo in which they can regard Taiwan as an independent entity.

Tsai and her followers should know that their exhilaration is nothing but whistling past the graveyard. The more arms the island buys from the US, the less safe the island becomes as efforts to build up the island's military capabilities only serve to send a clear message of secessionism to the mainland.

Tsai and her followers should not underestimate the mainland's resolve to defend the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The farther the island moves away from the possible peaceful reunion with its motherland, the more resolute the mainland will become to take the island back by force.

By building up its military defense, Tsai is playing a game of brinkmanship.

For the US, instead of boosting the military muscles of Taiwan, the sales of arms send the wrong message to the secessionists, encouraging them to go further on the road of seeking independence. As a result, the arms sales are anything but a move to stabilize the situation across the Taiwan Straits.

With the current trade frictions between the US and China, what is badly needed is more political trust between the two economic heavyweights. Arms sales to the island are not only incompatible with the spirit of the three joint communiqués Beijing and Washington signed for the establishment of diplomatic relations, but also set new stumbling blocks in the way of building mutual political trust.

More tension and worsening relations across the Taiwan Straits are not in the interests of the US. Its meddling in the internal affairs of China in whatever form will only increase the possibility of the mainland resorting to whatever means necessary to realize the final reunification of the island with the motherland.

The US should not hope to see and will not be able to do anything to prevent that scenario from becoming a reality.

The best choice for the US is to stay away from Taiwan affairs.