3.3 billion USD! Trump Approves First Arms Sale to Taiwan During His Term

Despite recent voices in the U.S. media advocating a "abandon Taiwan" stance, Trump will not miss any opportunity to make money.

Recently, Reuters reported that the U.S. Department of State approved the first arms sale to Taiwan since Trump's second term, with a total value of 3.3 billion USD.

For this, China's Foreign Ministry expressed strong opposition. The press release used four "serious" to express China's strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan: the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan seriously violate the One-China Principle and the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués, seriously infringe upon China's sovereignty and security interests, seriously violate international law, and send a serious wrong signal to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces.

On the other hand, the local media in Taiwan have shown great enthusiasm about this arms sale, especially the green camp media directly praised this arms sale as "dispelling the doubts about the U.S. and the rumors that Trump would trade Taiwan."

However, these local green media are just overthinking.

According to Reuters, the arms sale approved by the United States this time is only military aircraft parts and maintenance packages. It is not even a fraction of the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, and far from the "strategic upgrade" or "offensive weapons" expected by some "Taiwan independence" figures.

Therefore, this arms sale should be more appropriately called a routine "harvest" by the U.S. military-industrial complex: Trump took the opportunity to extort a "maintenance fee" from the authorities in Taiwan, and at the same time eased the "distrust of the U.S." sentiment in Taiwan, but it will not bring any military enhancement to the "Taiwan independence" armed forces.

In short, what the U.S. sells is an "illusion of security," while the authorities in Taiwan buy "self-anesthesia," but the strategic balance in the Taiwan Strait has long been unaffected by such "small deals."

Gao Ichiro made erroneous remarks on Taiwan

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1848767050383367/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.