US arms sales to Taiwan only worsen cross-Straits relations

Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and other secessionists on the island may feel exhilarated about the US State Department on Monday approving the potential sale to Taiwan of $2.2 billion in arms, considering the move to be a sign that they will be able to count on the United States for help should there be a military confrontation with the Chinese mainland.

And for those in the US who consider Taiwan as a pawn the US can use in its competition with China, the sale of arms represents not only a profitable deal, but also a hedge to maintain the status quo in which they can regard Taiwan as an independent entity.

Tsai and her followers should know that their exhilaration is nothing but whistling past the graveyard. The more arms the island buys from the US, the less safe the island becomes as efforts to build up the island's military capabilities only serve to send a clear message of secessionism to the mainland.