Should China treat America’s proposed weapons sale to Taiwan as a blessing in disguise? According to this article by a writer with the pen name Young Mao in the state-controlled Global Times, Beijing must use this experience to rally the nation and overcome the long-term policy of the United States to “contain China.”
For the Global Times, Young Mao writes in part:
Keeping in mind the details of the U.S. arms sale to Taiwan as well as China’s immediate and strong opposition, I believe that the now-approaching Sino-U.S. conflict isn’t necessarily a bad thing for China. On the contrary, from a certain point of view, there is a profoundly positive significance to it. … There is an ancient Chinese saying, “Misfortune, is what good fortune depends on.”
First, this will greatly inspire strong nationalism and cohesion among the Chinese people. Sixty years after the founding of the People’s Republic, for all Chinese people, there are two things inextricably bound up with the state and nation: one is the Taiwan issue; and the other is the containment policy of China that has long been pursued by the United States. These have fostered a strong anti-American sentiment in the minds of Chinese.
Secondly, from a military point of view, the U.S. government’s current plan to sell weapons to Taiwan will not have a substantial impact on the balance of power between Mainland China and Taiwan. … The arms sale includes “Black Hawk” helicopters, “Patriot-3” anti-missile systems and minesweepers. These weapons will either be obsolete soon or be upgraded, so they’ll be off the U.S. arms market. They really pose no offensive threat, unlike, for example, F16 C\D fighter aircraft, which the U.S. is reluctant to make available and so weren’t included. So from this point of view, the Obama Administration’s approval of weapons sales to Taiwan is clearly more symbolic than real.
More than 2,000 years ago, Mencius said, “Although there is wisdom, this is not as good as opportunity; although there are tools, these are not as good as right timing.”
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