US should stop playing games over Taiwan

• Source: Global Times
• [02:55 November 27 2009]
• Comments

During his maiden visit to China, US President Barack Obama gave Chinese President Hu Jintao a Hawaii-made "go" (weiqi) as a gift.

Among the many interpretations of the unique gift, some observers held that Obama chose "go" as symbolic of the evolving relationship between the two nations in a world order being shaped by the financial crisis.

The rules of the game are also being rewritten, and the US should desist from overplaying its hand on cross-Taiwan Straits relations.

Tuesday's hint by Washington's de facto top diplomat Raymond Burghardt of resuming arms sales to Taiwan could become a sticking point in Sino-US relations. The apparently rosy bilateral ties could then end up as a zero-sum game.

The seeming shift in Washington's position is nothing unusual, though. The US government has always regarded Taiwan as being of strategic importance to its national interest in East Asia. Numerous instances under former US administrations can be cited to show that whenever Beijing and Washington took an encouraging, closer step, Washington would do something to ease Taiwan's anxiety and play the balancing game.

The Obama administration is showing signs that it may be no exception to this rule.

While the Sino-US Joint Statement released during Obama's visit held out the promise of a healthy and steady partnership, including reiteration of the long-standing US position of a one-China policy, Burghardt has touched a raw nerve with his hint to sell 66 units of F-16 C/D fighters to Taiwan.