I expected him to behave in a similar way towards our long-time Cold War ally, Taiwan. I figured he'd let the alliance die on the vine for fear of pissing off the ChiComs. But, today we hear of a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan, similar to a sale the Bush administration did in 2008:
It would include 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, 114 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles, mine-hunting ships and information technology.A pretty significant poke in the eye to the ChiComs (and proof Obama intends to continue America's alliance with Taiwan). It'll help the budget as well. This takes more balls than I figured Obama had. China has responded by suspending military exchanges with America.
Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei warned U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman that the sale would "cause consequences that both sides are unwilling to see."We'll see if they do anything else to preserve their all-important face, my bet is nothing significant. My guess is the Chicoms are more bluster than brawn. But, I figured that Obama would be easily intimidated by their economic and military bluster as he was at the Copenhagen Climate Conference. Kudos to Dear Leader on this one!
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ReplyDeleteYeah, I was a little surprised by this as well. But I don't think his actual "bowing" to folks translates to a weak policy vis a vis China. Obama has made it adamantly clear that he has an extremely poor opinion of China (see previously discussed Tire/tariffs posts along with Hillary's jibes at China over the Google issue) and hasn't done anything "weak" to them that I can think of.
ReplyDeleteRelations between us and China are probably at their worst since the EP-3 incident in 2001. Whether that incident was an accident or not is debatable, what isn't debatable is that Obama has chosen to increase tensions with China (an extremely marked difference from the Bush admin).
That begs the question, do we applaud Obama's move or criticize it?
I think this is a good thing. Especially due to China's increasing influence in that region.(I can't find the artilce.)Doesn't America have an agreement with Taiwan that if China attacks Taiwan then the U.S. will have to support them?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Obama is sticking it to the Chinese for killing his hopes of achieving something at Copenhagen.(Just a joke.)
I do not think Obama's decision to sell rockets to Taiwan was a way to let China know that America still has the biggest mucsles in the world regardless of our debt to China. I believe Obama is trying to generate some income to help pay for his healthcare bill along with Americas debt, and simply did not consider China's reaction. Showing that he has a very narrow vision when making decisions that not only affect what he wants to get done, but that affect other countries intrests as well. He should not have pissed China off. Since that is in the past now, he needs to find a way to tactfully tell China not to be concerned with American business. He needs to make them happy, and still not make us look weak.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Melkor, that the bow, taken by itself, signifies very little (outside of a respect for 3rd world leaders as opposed to a lack of respect for the leaders of European nations), but when taken together with his dissing of the Dalai Lama (the first president to do so), it does indicate that he is trying to placate China at the expense of those who look to us for support against them.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I tried sending you another invitation to post here. Did you see it?
ReplyDelete"but when taken together with his dissing of the Dalai Lama...it does indicate that he is trying to placate China at the expense of those who look to us for support against them."
ReplyDeleteUmm....no? How does selling billions of dollars of sophisticated military hardware in pointed defiance of China's wishes translate to placating China or is at "the expense of those who look to us for support against them." I don't think you can couple two such contradictory actions and declaratively say he's placating the Chinese.
that's what I do
ReplyDeleteMelkor, my point was that prior to this sale, it appeared that he was placating them. I agree that this is a good step and a poke in the eye to the ChiComs (as I stated in the article).
ReplyDeletefair... But that's a very different from the tone you said in your previous comment.
ReplyDelete