According to Taiwan's "Central News Agency," the United States plans to deliver to Taiwan in a "couple of months" 200 AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, which Washington agreed to sell to the island in 2000. These missiles will be deployed in Taiwan's F-16 fighters.

Moreover, Taiwan's military reportedly plans to test-launch the missiles next year. This would be the first time that this kind of missiles will have been test-launched outside the United States.

The latest weapons deal is just one of a string of moves by Washington to upgrade Taiwan's combat capability.

It sends a wrong signal to the island's separatists and will only jeopardize the political foundations of Sino-US relations. It will, therefore, torpedo peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Washington made explicit commitments in the Sino-US Joint Communique signed on August 17, 1982, stating that the United States "does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, and it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution."

However, instead of keeping to its word, the United States has never stopped selling a variety of advanced weaponry to Taiwan over the past decades. It went even farther at a time when the island's separatist forces led by Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian have been seeking "gradual independence" more boldly and overtly than ever before.

What makes the United States so aggressive about Taiwan, however, is its own interests.

Neither its claims to adhere to the one-China policy nor its weapons sales to the island have gone beyond Washington's traditional strategic thinking regarding the Taiwan question.

Neither a united China nor a war across the Taiwan Straits fits in with the United States' perception of its own interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to some US strategists, a unified China would have the potential to challenge US strategic advantages in East Asia. However, any military conflict across the Taiwan Straits would possibly involve the United States, which is definitely not what Washington wants. Therefore, some strategists believe that US interests are best served by the status quo of the separation of Taiwan from the mainland, along with the subsequent tension.

In this sense, no matter how Washington phrases its rhetoric, the deep-rooted contradiction remains in its current policies towards Taiwan.

(China Daily July 16, 2003)