It’s all about the arms sales.

China

Editorial

People’s Daily

The U.S. is just pretending to be concerned about the security of Taiwan, said the Beijing People’s Daily in an editorial. It isn’t humanitarians, or even diplomats, but rather arms dealers who determine U.S. policy toward the renegade island. The Defense Department, the Congressional defense committees, and the weapons manufacturers form “an iron triangle” of interests, all bent on boosting American arms sales. They barely try to hide this aim. A top Pentagon official recently threatened that the U.S. would not lift a finger to defend Taiwan unless the island bought $15 billion worth of U.S. weapons systems. So far, Taiwan is balking, but it probably won’t hold out much longer. It already caved in and agreed to buy two “outmoded,” 20-year-old destroyers—ships that are so decrepit that even Greece wouldn’t take them—for the “astronomical price” of $875 million. And now the Aegis destroyer, whose U.S. manufacturer can’t find a single willing buyer, is being touted as Taiwan’s top defense need. In reality, of course, it’s the manufacturer who is in need. The poor Taiwanese are shelling out money just to keep American arms makers in business. The U.S. still says that exporting large quantities of arms is “for the defense of world peace.” Honestly, “who will believe such nonsense?”

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