Saturday, September 10, 2011

Beijing warns ‘madmen’ in Washington on F-16s

Beijing upped the rhetoric against Washington on arms sales to Taiwan, using a mixture of threat and insult that is unlikely to be well-received in Washington

An editorial in the People’s Daily yesterday adopted unusually bellicose language to “warn” Washington against selling advanced weapons to Taiwan, pointing to the “disastrous price” that would be paid if Washington proceeds with the sale.

“At present, some madmen on Capitol Hill are making an uproar about consolidating and expanding this cancer,” the paper said, referring to the Taiwan Relations Act, which requires the US to sell Taiwan the military equipment it needs for its self-defense.

Calling US politicians who support continued arms sales to Taiwan “wildly arrogant,” the editorial said Sino-US relations would find themselves in a predicament if the sale were allowed to proceed.

[...]

“Some people want to turn back the tide of history, but they must be clear about the disastrous price they will have to pay,” the editorial said.

“A word of advice for those muddleheaded congressmen: Don’t go too far, don’t play with fire,” it said.

My article, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As a Chinese, I guess China incurs in a waste of its time complaining about the selling. It'd be wiser if China simply retaliates in what it is for sure the most sensitive issue for the U.S. these days: harm the U.S economy as, for instance, raising new measures so making more difficult the presence of American companies in the Chinese domestic market. Btw, wasn't such complain made recently by the U.S. business people including a claim, addressed by the Vice President Biden in his recent trip to China? Then, China as a response, just can simply ignore Mr. Biden's appeal.