Continuous arms sales to Taiwan will cause damage to China-US relations and put at risk US interests in east Asia, where the American businesses have grown fast in the past 10 years, a Chinese official warned in Washington yesterday.
"Arms sale is a political issue. It would not only hurt US-China relations, but also hurt US interests in that region... To plough in such a hot spot could be explosive at any time, eventually hurt bilateral relations as well as US interest itself," said Zhou Mingwei, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) under the State Council of the People's Republic of China.
Zhou, who is leading the first cabinet-level delegation to visit the United States since President George W. Bush took office in January, said that the present situation is quite different from that of 10 years ago as a great number of American companies have taken roots in China to set up local corporations or joint ventures.
With China going to enter into the World Trade Organization, a growing number of American business corporations will make long-term investments in the country, and therefore a more "peaceful and stable" climate in the whole region is needed, Zhou told a press conference at the Chinese embassy.
He described as "cold-war mentality" the notion that provision of arms to Taiwan can keep the military balance and result in peace. "Militarization in the region will not lead to a peaceful solution... it is very counter-productive and contradictory to the long-term interest of China-US relations," he added.
Zhou made the remarks just before Taiwan and the United States are to kick off their annual arms sales conference in Washington D.C. in April. The Taiwanese authorities are trying hard to secure, among many other weapons, several Aegis destroyers, which have advanced equipment capable of intercepting incoming missiles. The Bush administration, however, is still weighing the consequences and has not yet given approval to the transaction thus far.
(Eastday 03/01/2001)
