The Obama campaign, which along with the McCain campaign had been putting pressure on the Bush Administration to approve the arms sales to Taiwan, put out a statement on the issue. Pay attention to that last paragraph..."Senator Obama welcomes the Bush Administration's decision to notify Congress concerning the package of weapons systems for Taiwan. This package represents an important response to Taiwan's defense needs. This action is fully consistent with U.S. obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act. The sale helps to contribute to Taiwan's defense and the maintenance of a healthy balance in the Taiwan Strait. Senator Obama looks forward to fully reviewing the notifications and the accompanying justification of the Department of Defense.Good thing our engagement partner understands our point of view and won't do anything unreasonable.... actually, this is normal behavior whenever the US sells weapons to Taiwan. It too shall pass...
"Senator Obama strongly supports the reduction of tensions between China and Taiwan, and commends China's President Hu Jintao and Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou for their efforts in that regard. A strengthening of Taiwan's defenses will not undermine the process of reduction of tensions and can actually promote it.
"Senator Obama regrets that China has responded by suspending military-to-military exchanges with the U.S. and nonproliferation talks. These discussions are in the interest of both sides, and should be resumed," said Wendy Morigi, national security spokesperson.
UPDATE: Some things that wiser heads pointed out to me....both Ma and Hu are "President" as if suggesting they rule separate countries, and only the word "Taiwan" is used here to describe the ROC. Not bad, eh?
[Taiwan]
McCain response also:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=758307&lang=eng_news&cate_img=83.jpg&cate_rss=news_Politics_TAIWAN
Doesn't really mean a lot, as far as I can see. Leaves it open either way.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Michael, you said you didn't like the sub plan because it was too expensive. Would you support the $360 million initial phase to see if it is viable? It's Taiwan's only shot at foreign-built submarines, the only other option being a local build which would cost a lot anyway.
For $360 million, you can buy at least 360 Harpoon missiles, probably many more. You could probably buy around 15 F-16s. You could do tons of stuff that looks really cost effective, especially when all you need to do is foil an invasion, not invade or dominate space.
ReplyDeleteWhy not spend $360 million on an indigenous program? It would at least help the local economy and create domestic know-how, meaning the overall cost isn't as high as it seems. Again, there's so many other ways this money could be spent. How about $360 million on cruise missiles targeting Shanghai? How about $360 million on an indigenous UAV program? Hell, that would even have export value and many, many civilian applications (weather, telecommunications, police surveillance, etc.).
The opportunity cost for spending this money on even just thinking about spending money on subs is just really, really high. Way too high.
.both Ma and Hu are "President" as if suggesting they rule separate countries, and only the word "Taiwan" is used here to describe the ROC. Not bad, eh?
ReplyDeleteNot bad at all, but not as good as what McCain had to say.
According to the Taipei Times, McCain had this to say about the arms sales, "the possibility of productive times between Taiwan and China are enhanced, not diminished, when Taipei speaks from a position of strength". McCain called the two nations by their appropriate names!
More importantly, Obama was uncertain of the benefits of helping Taiwan defend herself, ("Taiwan's defenses will not undermine the process of reduction of tensions and can actually promote it", note that he says "can", not "will), McCain on the other hand, say clearly that Taiwan speaking from a position of strength will help the cross-strait relationship. Also, to my knowledge, has not commended President Ma on his capitulations to China, as Obama did.