{"id":18018,"date":"2021-08-17T15:02:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T15:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/17\/new-arms-sales-send-the-wrong-signal-on-taiwan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:40:11","slug":"new-arms-sales-send-the-wrong-signal-on-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2021\/08\/17\/new-arms-sales-send-the-wrong-signal-on-taiwan\/","title":{"rendered":"New arms sales send the wrong signal on Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: This commentary has been updated with additional attribution.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration recently approved its first arms sale to Taiwan for $750 million worth of howitzers and high-tech munitions kits<\/a>. Proponents incorrectly argue<\/a> that this sale will enhance stability in the region by sending a strong signal to China of America\u2019s commitment to Taiwan\u2019s security and by complicating any Chinese plans for an invasion of the island. In fact, the sale will accomplish nothing of the sort. To avoid enflaming tensions in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. needs to halt sales of weapons to Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sale will not allow Taiwan to better defend itself in any clash with China. It will, however, tell Taiwan that it\u2019s OK to keep passing the buck to the United States for its defense. Moreover, a new sale of arms at this time is sure to inflame tensions between Beijing and Washington, increasing the risk of conflict and making it more difficult to make progress on issues of mutual concern, such as climate change<\/a>, trade and nuclear nonproliferation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how many tanks, planes, missiles or howitzers Taiwan buys from the United States, few experts seriously believe that Taiwan is capable of defending itself on its own. Though a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be costly, absent a war between China and the U.S., Taiwan would surely succumb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond its obvious manpower advantages, China also enjoys overwhelming air and naval superiority that U.S. arms sales alone cannot reverse. China can blockade<\/a> the island nation, airlift full-scale battle tanks onto the island and overpower Taiwan\u2019s air defense systems. A few more guns, missiles and planes cannot change this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite inaccurate claims<\/a> that weapons are helping Taiwan become capable of defending itself, decades of American arms sales and reassurances have convinced<\/a> Taiwanese leaders that the United States is ultimately responsible for Taiwan\u2019s security. Taiwan\u2019s defense spending has remained stuck at about 2 percent of its gross domestic product for years, a great deal of which it has spent on high-tech American weapons that will be of little value in case of a war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a report published by George Mason University<\/a> for which the authors interviewed Taiwanese military officials, senior lawmakers, elected leaders, former government officials and defense scholars, the U.S. arms sales let \u201cChina know America would intervene on our behalf in a conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, when it buys American weapons, Taiwan is simply making insurance payments to guarantee American intervention in response to a Chinese invasion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while arms sales may have reassured Taiwan of ultimate U.S. reassurance, they have also angered and alienated Beijing. After the United States recognized mainland China in 1979, it pledged to refrain from selling the Taiwanese offensive weaponry. But advanced fighter jets, missiles and planes are hardly purely defensive. Ironically, President Joe Biden used to understand this. In 1999, then-Sen. Biden stated<\/a> that mandating arms sales to Taiwan would \u201cbe the equivalent of waving a red cape in front of Beijing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s concern over these increasingly sophisticated weapons sales is understandable. From President Barack Obama\u2019s 2011 \u201cpivot to Asia\u201d to President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war, American concerns over a rising China have clearly been growing. In addition to selling Taiwan increasingly sophisticated weaponry, the Pentagon is deploying additional ships and planes in the areas surrounding China. Not surprisingly, Chinese leaders worry that the U.S. and its allies are reviving the Cold War strategy of encircling their adversaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\t