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China’s Hawks Demand Cold War on the US
Due to recent tensions over Taiwan, Tibet, and a host of other issues, the majority of people in China think their country and the U.S. are headed for another cold war, according to a survey by Global Times. From The Times:
In China’s eyes, the American response — which includes a pledge by Obama to get tougher on trade — is a reaction against its rising power.
Now almost 55% of those questioned for Global Times, a state-run newspaper, agree that “a cold war will break out between the US and China”.
An independent survey of Chinese-language media for The Sunday Times has found army and navy officers predicting a military showdown and political leaders calling for China to sell more arms to America’s foes. The trigger for their fury was Obama’s decision to sell $6.4 billion (£4 billion) worth of weapons to Taiwan, the thriving democratic island that has ruled itself since 1949.
“We should retaliate with an eye for an eye and sell arms to Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela,” declared Liu Menxiong, a member of the Chinese people’s political consultative conference.
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- February 6, 2010 6:30 PM
China-US Tensions Spiking Over Taiwan, Dalai Lama
President Obama’s announcement that he will meet with the Dalai Lama and sell arms to Taiwan is stoking tensions with Beijing, AP reports:
There’s likely to be even more turbulence ahead: Trade friction, currency rate woes and allegations of cyber-spying are already roiling relations.
The rhetoric also is sharpening in a disagreement over new sanctions against Iran, with Beijing refusing U.S. calls to push Tehran harder to cooperate with nuclear inspectors.
Yet the sheer number and variety of current disputes also reflects a newly combative approach by Beijing, emboldened by its $2.4 trillion in foreign holdings — about $800 billion of which is invested in U.S. Treasury securities — and relative success handling the impact of the global financial crisis.
See also “US Sees No Fundamental Change in China Relations Despite Problem Issues” from VOA.
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- February 2, 2010 1:53 PM
U.S. Seeks Calm as China Fumes over Taiwan Arms
The White House responded to the angry reaction from Beijing over the planned arms sale to Taiwan. Reuters reports:
The official China Daily said U.S. weapons sales to the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own, “inevitably cast a long shadow on Sino-U.S. relations.”
“China’s response, no matter how vehement, is justified. No country worthy of respect can sit idle while its national security is endangered and core interests damaged,” the English-language newspaper said in an editorial.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the U.S.-China relationship was important and “I don’t think that either country can afford to simply walk away from the other.”
Gibbs said any sanctions against the companies involved in the arms sales, a move threatened by China for the first time, would not be warranted.
chinaSMACK has translated a piece from the Chinese media about the arms sale and several comments from readers here.
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- February 1, 2010 10:12 PM
U.S. Arms for Taiwan Send Beijing a Message
The New York Times argues that the recent announcement from the Obama administration of an arms sale to Taiwan was a calculated pushback against China’s “increasingly muscular position toward the United States”:
The arms package was doubly infuriating to Beijing coming so soon after the Bush administration announced a similar arms package for Taiwan in 2008, and right as tensions were easing somewhat in Beijing and Taipei’s own relations. China’s immediate, and outraged, reaction — cancellation of some military exchanges and announcement of punitive sanctions against American companies — demonstrates, China experts said, that Beijing is feeling a little burned, particularly because the Taiwan arms announcement came on the same day that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly berated China for not taking a stronger position on holding Iran accountable for its nuclear program.
While administration officials sounded a uniform public note, cautioning Beijing not to allow this latest tiff to damage overall relations, some administration officials suggested privately that the timing of the arms sales and the tougher language on Iran was calculated to send a message to Beijing to avoid assumptions that President Obama would be deferential to China over American security concerns and existing agreements.
“This was a case of making sure that there was no misunderstanding that we will act in our own national security interests,” one senior administration official said. A second Obama administration official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said pointedly: “Unlike the previous administration, we did not wait until the end of our administration to go ahead with the arms sales to Taiwan. We did it early.”
But larger questions remain about where the Obama administration is heading on China policy, and whether the new toughness signals a fundamentally new direction and will yield results that last year’s softer approach did not.
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- February 1, 2010 2:32 PM
U.S. Deal With Taiwan Has China Retaliating (Updated)
The Chinese government has reacted quickly to an announcement from the Obama administration of a $6 billion arms sale to Taiwan. From the New York Times:
The Chinese government announced late Saturday an unusually broad series of retaliatory measures in response to the latest United States arms sales to Taiwan, including sanctions against American companies that supply the weapon systems for the arms sales.
The Foreign Ministry announced in a pair of statements from Beijing that some military exchange programs between the United States and China would be canceled in addition to the commercial sanctions. Furthermore, a vice foreign minister, He Yafei, has called in Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the United States ambassador to China, to protest the sales.
The American decision to sell more weapons to Taiwan “constitutes a gross intervention into China’s internal affairs, seriously endangers China’s national security and harms China’s peaceful reunification efforts,” Mr. He said in the ministry’s statement.
See also this report from ITN:

And from Xinhua: “Arms sale causes severe damage to overall China-U.S. cooperation”
Update: In the Washington Post, John Pomfret reports that Beijing’s reaction to the deal is part of a “a new triumphalist attitude from Beijing.” The report continues:
From the Copenhagen climate change conference to Internet freedom to China’s border with India, China observers have noticed a tough tone emanating from its government, its representatives and influential analysts from its state-funded think tanks.
…”There has been a change in China’s attitude,” said Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a former senior National Security Council official who is currently at the Brookings Institution. “The Chinese find with startling speed that people have come to view them as a major global player. And that has fed a sense of confidence.”
Lieberthal said another factor in China’s new tone is a sense that after two centuries of exploitation by the West, China is resuming its role as one of the great nations of the world.
This new posture has befuddled Western officials and analysts: Is it just China’s tone that is changing or are its policies changing as well?
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- January 30, 2010 5:32 PM
US Announces $6B Arms Sale to Taiwan
President Obama has approved a new arms package for Taiwan, AP reports:
In a move sure to aggravate China, the Obama administration announced on Friday plans for more than $6 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island the Chinese claim as their own.
The sale would include Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot missiles, mine-hunting ships and information technology. Lawmakers have 30 days to comment before the plan proceeds; senior lawmakers have traditionally supported arms sales to Taiwan.
See also a Q & A on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, via Reuters, and an AP report on China’s reaction.
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- January 29, 2010 3:27 PM
Jerome A. Cohen and Yu-Jie Chen: Taiwan’s Criminal Defense Lawyers and China’s
From US-Asia Law Institute:
The Chinese government’s continuing attacks on human rights lawyers rarely make foreign headlines these days. Monitoring, intimidating, disbarring and prosecuting activist lawyers have become routine in China. Even the tragic “disappearance” while in police custody of defense lawyer/political reformer Gao Zhisheng–now feared to be dead–hardly attracts attention.
It is also unremarkable for even non-political Chinese defense lawyers to suffer sanctions. The recent conviction of Beijing lawyer Li Zhuang for allegedly counseling his client to lie and bribe witnesses would not have been noted abroad if the case had not involved Chongqing’s extraordinary campaign to suppress organized crime.
By contrast, the Taiwan government’s new interest in curbing vigorous defense lawyers does constitute “news”. Although Taiwan’s president Ma Ying-Jeou recently took the occasion of the island’s Law Day to call for greater government efforts to promote judicial reform and human rights, his Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has been moving in the opposite direction.
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- January 23, 2010 10:25 PM
China Denounces U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan
Xinhua reports on China’s condemnation of U.S. plans to sell Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan:
China’s Defense Ministry on Friday expressed strong indignation and firm opposition to the US arms sales to Taiwan, urging the US to respect China’s core interests and immediately withdraw related arms sales items.
“The US side clings obstinately to the Bush administration’s plan of arms sales to Taiwan, which severely undermines the mutual trust between the two militaries,” said Defense Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping in a statement.
“It also greatly hinders the improvement and development of China-US military ties,” Huang said. “We reserve the right of taking further actions.”
[...] This was the fourth official announcement made by a Chinese spokesperson in a week. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu had previously denounced the US move three times.
AFP reports on the weapon sales’ background:
His comments came after a US official in Taipei said the US Defense Department had approved the sale of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan, part of a package passed by Congress more than a year ago.
“The US Defense Department awarded Lockheed Martin Corp the contract to provide Patriot missile defense systems to Taiwan as part of a big arms deal approved by Congress in 2008,” said the spokesman with the American Institute, the US de facto embassy in Taipei.
The US Defense Department said in a statement on Wednesday the contract for Lockheed Martin involved “basic missile tooling upgrades.”
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- January 8, 2010 8:23 PM
Taiwan Leader Vows Not To Seek Independence
From AFP:
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Friday renewed his pledge not to seek formal independence for the island and to work towards improving ties with former rival China.
“At the present stage any radical political choice, whether it be unification or independence, would trigger serious confrontation and turbulence,” Ma said in his New Year’s address.
“I insist on maintaining the situation of ‘no unification, no independence, no use of force’ to promote cross-strait exchanges and cooperation … for peaceful developments in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
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- January 1, 2010 4:04 PM
Taiwan’s Ma Urges Beijing On Dissidents: Report
From AFP:
Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has called on Chinese authorities to “tolerate” political opponents after they jailed a leading dissident, it was reported Sunday.
The remarks by Ma, of the China-friendly Kuomintang party, came after a Beijing court on Friday sentenced Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.”
“Pursuing democracy and human rights has been a persistent goal of my political career and …since I took the office last year,” Ma replied while asked to comment on Liu’s case, the Liberty Times reported.
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- December 27, 2009 8:38 AM
Taiwan Leaders Must Push for Liu Xiaobo’s Freedom
From eTaiwanNews:
During a five-day visit which ends today, the chief negotiator on cross-strait relations for the authoritarian People’s Republic of China for Taiwan affairs has repeatedly declared that Beijing will “absolutely respect” the expression of different opinions within Taiwan society regarding the cross-strait talks and on whether to welcome his journey.
These pious declarations by Association for Relations Across the Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin, a former director for Taiwan affairs for both the PRC government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party, have been discordant with his own statements that Beijing will not “waver” in its current policy direction on Taiwan due to these “different voices.”
The lack of sincerity on the part of the PRC side was confirmed by the declaration by ARATS Vice Chairman Zheng Lizhong that any dialogue with opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen would only be possible on the precondition that she and her party abandoned advocation of “Taiwan independence.”
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- December 25, 2009 7:23 PM
Taiwan, China Sign Trade Agreements Amid Protests
From AP:
Negotiators from China and Taiwan held a fourth round of trade talks Tuesday amid protests from critics who fear the Taiwanese government’s China-friendly policies are opening the door to eventual unification with the mainland.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party blasted President Ma Ying-jeou for negotiating with China in a way that flouts “democratic rules.”
Top officials signed a trio of minor trade agreements and discussed a free-trade deal that has fired up Tsai and other critics of Ma’s push to link the export-dependant island’s economy ever closer to China’s.
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- December 22, 2009 4:43 AM
Up To 30,000 In Taiwan Anti-China Rally Ahead Of Talks
From AFP:
Up to 30,000 protesters marched through Taiwan’s third-largest city Sunday, loudly and angrily voicing unease over closer China ties ahead of a high-level meeting with the giant neighbour.
Chanting and banner-wielding demonstrators filled the streets of downtown Taichung, the central city that will host the talks, highlighting deep divisions over China policy on this island of 23 million people.
“Go! Go! Taiwan!” chanted the protesters, many of them wearing orange headbands. “Taiwan, China — one country on each side!”
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- December 20, 2009 9:05 AM
Taiwan, China to Hold Free-Trade Talks
Next week, Taiwanese and Chinese leaders will convene to discuss the possibility of a future free-trade agreement between the two regions. From Reuters:
Negotiator P.K. Chiang of export-reliant Taiwan and Chen Yunlin of economic powerhouse China will meet in central Taiwan’s Taichung on Tuesday for a fourth round of talks on the proposed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), since ties began warming last year.
The pact aimed at slashing import tariffs while allowing more market access in the banking sector, should be signed early next year, Taiwan’s top China policymaker Lai Shin-yuan told Reuters in a recent interview.
“It’s important how we frame (the deal) in the initial phase,” said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taipei. “This will be the first framework agreement between China and Taiwan.”
Tuesday’s talks will also build trust that could lead eventually to dialogue on sensitive political issues, set aside for now as China and Taiwan focus on more practical matters.
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- December 18, 2009 10:09 PM
Taiwan’s China-Friendly Party on Test In Local Poll
Taiwan’s “China-friendly” Kuomintang (KMT) was tested at the polls yesterday. From Reuters, via New York Times:
Taiwan voters went to the polls Saturday to elect local officials in the first test of China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou’s popularity since he took power a year-and-a-half ago.
If Ma’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) holds its current majority or gains seats, it strengthens the president’s already firm mandate to govern and adds momentum to his efforts to broker peace with China through trade pacts.
“My sense is that China will be watching closely to see if Ma is a credible interlocutor,” said Ralph Cossa, president of the U.S. think tank Pacific Forum CSIS.
“Ironically, the worse that the KMT does, the more Beijing will likely be pushing for some sort of concessions since they could become increasingly concerned that the DPP will return to power sooner rather than later and will want to consolidate any cross-Strait improvement before then,” he said.
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- December 5, 2009 10:54 PM