Recently, Wu Qian, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, made a speech on the US arms sales to Taiwan. Wu Qian used harsh words, demanding that the United States immediately withdraw its arms sales to Taiwan and stop its arms sales to Taiwan and its military ties with Taiwan.
At the regular press conference of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council held on April 24th, Ma Guang Xiao, a spokesman, also stressed: "We firmly oppose the US arms sales to Taiwan and any form of military ties between the United States and Taiwan Province.".
Not only that, on the 17th of this month, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang solemnly warned — — "Revoke the above-mentioned arms sales plan to Taiwan and stop the arms sales to Taiwan and the military ties between the United States and Taiwan, so as not to cause serious damage to cooperation in important areas between China and the United States and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."
In a week, China’s three departments spoke intensively, with a firm attitude and full of confidence. However, Tsai Ing-Wen of the Taiwan Province authorities said that the US arms sales to Taiwan were "timely"? It can be seen that Tsai Ing-Wen is not concerned about the military effect of the US arms sales to Taiwan, but is satisfied with the time when the news of the arms transaction was released.
Then, let’s peel off the "gourd" of US arms sales to Taiwan, and see what "medicine" Tsai Ing-Wen has put into it.
Is it Tsai Ing-Wen’s intention to arrange the US arms sales to Taiwan this time?
According to several Taiwan Province media sources, on 15th of this month, the US Defense Security Cooperation Bureau issued a press release. According to the press release, the State Council has approved a case of arms sales to Taiwan, which is estimated to be 500 million US dollars (about 3.35 billion yuan), mainly for continuing to provide training for pilots of Taiwan Province F-16 fighters at Luke Air Force Base, and providing maintenance and logistical support for the fighters. However, the press release pointed out that the arms sales case has been notified to Congress, but it does not mean that the sale has been completed.
As soon as the news came out, Taiwan Province’s security officials made a public statement, stressing that this was the first time that the United States announced the training plan for Taiwan Province pilots in the United States. The military cooperation between Taiwan Province and the United States involved key areas such as weapons use and tactics formulation, and deliberately pointed out: "Taiwan Province and the United States have close military ties."
However, the people of Taiwan Province do not buy this "ulterior motive" of some people in the Taiwan Province authorities. In the eyes of the people, this is equivalent to the United States collecting "protection fees", and Tsai Ing-Wen and others are taking the hard-earned money of ordinary people to Americans!
When asked by the host of CCTV, Lai Yueqian, president of Taiwan Province Zhongshi Electronic News, thought that the statement of "US arms sales to Taiwan" itself was untenable compared with the past. He analyzed that Taiwan Province’s F-16 fighter pilots have been conducting military training at bases in the United States, and the F-16 fighters previously purchased from the United States have already included parts maintenance and logistics support. Lai Yueqian said that the US released this news at the request of Tsai Ing-Wen.
According to experts and scholars on the Taiwan Strait issue, the so-called "arms sales to Taiwan" press release issued by the US side has no substantive significance, and prefers the symbolic significance of "showing an attitude".
Is Tsai Ing-Wen’s self-respect paving the way for re-election?
Not only this one thing, combined with some time ago, the Taiwan Province authorities bought 66 F-16V fighter planes from the United States, but there was no follow-up progress in this transaction.
Lai Yueqian, president of Taiwan Province Zhongshi Electronic News, said that Tsai Ing-Wen was undoubtedly hurt by the "shelving" of the previous purchase of fighter planes, so she would actively seek the attitude support of the US to make up for the last setback.
Recently, there is another important event that affects the people’s sight in Taiwan Province, that is, the 2020 Taiwan Province regional leadership election. Everyone can see that Tsai Ing-Wen’s move is really "Xiang Zhuang’s sword dance, which is intended to be repeated". In order to seek re-election in 2020, she is determined to rely on foreign self-respect.
Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the Institute of Strategic Studies of China Institute of International Studies, said that Tsai Ing-Wen’s popularity on the island has been greatly affected recently. It is a fundamental measure to boost her popularity and do a good job in Taiwan Province’s economic development. However, Tsai Ing-Wen has no way to do this. Su Xiaohui believes that Tsai Ing-Wen’s discovery of speculating on US-Taiwan relations and spending money directly to buy things from the United States can not only boost popularity, but also be simple to operate. Therefore, Tsai Ing-Wen and others have been showing kindness to Americans and constantly seeking to sign large military orders.
Lai Yueqian also found that for a long time, there was a group of political forces on Taiwan Province Island, who regarded the relationship between Taiwan Province and the United States as an important bargaining chip in political elections, and believed that if they want to win the Taiwanese elections, they must win the support of the United States. Therefore, Tsai Ing-Wen will continue to be nice to the United States. Lai Yueqian guessed that Democratic Progressive Party’s primary election would be held from June to July. In the next few months, Tsai Ing-Wen would push his luck and "hook up" with the United States more and more, so as to build momentum for the inner-party elections.
The U.S. government is waiting for an opportunity to stir up trouble and drop a rock on its own feet?
What abacus are some people in the United States playing for Tsai Ing-Wen and others?
Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the Institute of Strategic Studies of China Institute of International Studies, believes that the United States has frequently made an issue of Taiwan Province and has its own three reasons. Su Xiaohui said: First, the United States is using the Taiwan Province issue to put pressure on China and try to influence the development of Sino-US relations; Second, the United States is using the Taiwan Province issue to create regional disputes, disrupting regional stability and making it easier for the United States to intervene; Thirdly, since Tsai Ing-Wen and others have frequently shown good intentions, the United States has also added fuel to the Taiwan Province issue at its request.
The actions of the United States towards Taiwan are both positive and vacillating. Su Xiaohui analyzed that at present, there have been many new changes in the United States’ actions toward Taiwan. On the one hand, it considers the demands of the hardliners in China in the United States, and on the other hand, it considers the long-term interests of Sino-US cooperation and development.
Therefore, when the United States is dealing with issues involving Taiwan Province, "small moves" are becoming more and more frequent, and "big moves" are not yet rash.
When we take apart the thoughts of Tsai Ing-Wen and some people in the United States, in fact, all their actions are "Si Mazhao’s heart, and everyone knows it".
Faced with such perverse thoughts, China’s Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taiwan Affairs Office responded intensively, which not only firmly showed China’s attitude and position, but also told the United States where China’s bottom line was, warning the United States not to play with fire with Tsai Ing-Wen and others, stepping on the red line and playing with fire to set yourself on fire, which would certainly hurt others, but also hurt itself. (Text/Qian Jingtong)
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