Don’t abandon Taiwan for better China ties (CNN)

CNN ^ | 09/12/2013 | Abraham Denmark

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Editor’s note: Abraham M. Denmark is vice president for Political and Security Affairs at The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), and previously served as Country Director for China Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Tiffany Ma is a project manager at NBR. The views expressed are their own.

According to Chinese media, Defense Minister General Chang Wanquan arrived in Washington last month to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Hagel with a grand bargain in mind: that Beijing would adjust its military deployments along the Taiwan Strait if the United States ended arms sales to Taiwan. Although a Chinese official reportedly claimed that Hagel had a positive response to the suggestion of forming a working group to explore this proposal, Washington quickly dismissed concerns that this might represent a change in U.S. policy toward Taiwan. Yet even after the media flames are doused, this proposal will likely encourage a small but growing contingent within the U.S. academic community that sees downgrading U.S. obligations to Taiwan as a justifiable trade for improved U.S.-China relations.

To be sure, this was not the first time that China has pushed such a proposal, and it certainly won’t be China’s last word on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Nonetheless, Washington has robust reasons to stand firm on its commitments to Taiwan and to disregard any such proposals that may come from Beijing.

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