中文
By Hamzah Rifaat Hussain
The Joe Biden administration's proclivity towards provocations will not subside on any front in 2022, be it in Ukraine, the South China Sea or China's Taiwan region. As the world witnesses the triumph of global soft power over boisterous displays of aggression in the form of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the United States is pursuing hard power with the latest approval of a $100 million support contract aimed at boosting Taiwan's missile defense systems. This is yet another example of deliberate tactics employed by Washington, D.C. to spark another conflict and compromise sustainable peace with China and such measures need to be met with a befitting response.
The deal is aimed at improving the Patriot missile defense system on Chinese territory and demonstrates the Biden administration's determination in finalizing contracts that promote secessionism and discord on another country's sovereign territory. The entire approach is dualistic, whereby acknowledgment of unwavering adherence to the one-China principle is followed with brazen provision of military equipment and engineering services to support missile defense systems in Taiwan. This should be construed as nothing but state-sponsored brazen interference.
Such deals further demonstrate that the prospect of peaceful relations between China and the United States will always be hijacked by geopolitical engineering from respective U.S. administrations to which the Biden administration is no exception. By arming Taiwan, it is employing subversive tactics that inevitably further militarize the South China Sea and run contrary to previously stated narratives of promoting freedom and de-escalation in the region.
It also further discredits American foreign policy, which is already reeling from abject failures in Ukraine and previously in Afghanistan and Iraq. To unilaterally arm Taiwan is to send a clear message that toxic policies which jeopardize regional security and disturb the deterrence equation will be pursued with impunity and unabashedly. And herein lies the problem.
The ironic aspect of this support contract with Taiwan is the disconnect between its stated aims and actual foreign policy making. Take the flawed Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) assessment that political stability, military balancing and economic development in the region will be secured through the contract despite the fact that arming sovereign territories do little in addressing economic development issues regionally as the United States has attempted to nuclearize the Asia Pacific with the Australia-UK-U.S. (AUKUS) alliance and rallied regional states to adopt hawkish attitudes towards China.
In truth, it is Washington that is promoting political instability by arming secessionists averse to the inevitable and peaceful reunification of China which is a clear red line for any state. Unsurprisingly, the reaction from Beijing is that of defiance as Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made it clear that all necessary actions to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity will be exercised.
By upsetting the deterrence equation, and that too with a global sporting event taking place, is reflective of an aggressive and expansionist mindset which is an integral part of the Biden doctrine. Note that on Taiwan, Biden announced last year $750 million of arms sales with bipartisan support which underlines how Congressional politics rather than sincere attempts at promoting peace will continue to dictate future courses of action.
It simply degrades principles of non-interference which becomes subject to the whims and wishes of American policy makers who warmonger through military buildups. That is unacceptable and the truth as per Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian is that there will always be one China with Taiwan region being an inalienable part of China's territory pending peaceful reunification. It is the United States with its nefarious designs of promoting discord through weaponizing sovereign territory which is the primary spoiler of peace.
It is clear that the Biden administration with its discredited foreign policy chose to provoke China by arming its Taiwan region. This is nothing more than another failed attempt at containment at a time when the Beijing Winter Olympic Games are in full swing.
Hamzah Rifaat Hussain is a TV anchor at Indus News in Pakistan, a former visiting fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and former assistant researcher at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.
