More US Missiles To Taiwan – Beware the Military-Industrial Complex

2010-01-07

This shit really needs to stop:

The US on Wednesday approved the sale of advanced air defence missiles to Taiwan despite rising trade tension between the two sides and continued opposition to the deal from Beijing.

The Department of Defence on Wednesday approved a $968m contract for Lockheed Martin to sell 253 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles and related hardware to Taiwan for upgrading the island’s existing defence system. (FT)

Apparently earlier reports that the Obama Administration would scale the package back to exclude missiles in favor of helicopters, or something, were inaccurate.

Look, I just fail to see how this benefits the US all that much. China is pissed off and will retaliate somehow – I suggest they sell weapons to Texas. The US already has plenty of strategic allies in the Pacific (isn't Japan enough?). Moreover, need I point out the karmic implications of being the world's largest weapons salesman?

OK, scratch that, I don't believe in karma. At the very least, however, there is some bad ju-ju associated with selling things that go boom.

No, scratch that. I don't really know what ju-ju means. Sounds kinda cool, though.

The two most important words in that excerpt above are "Lockheed" and "Martin." This is the weapons manufacturer that is profiting from all this, and in case you were not aware of the power of these firms in D.C., these guys spread money around Washington like a fundamentalist Christian politician at a whorehouse.

I'm sure Taiwan is happy with all this. They have been in very significant negotiations with the PRC in recent days, and a weapons sale like this would, I assume, operate as a nice bargaining chip for the Taiwanese.

Regardless, Taiwan will eventually take a deal something like Hong Kong and Macau, it's just a matter of time. A lot of posturing and negotiation will go on until that day, but it certainly seems inevitable at this point.

It goes without saying that any hate mail from Taiwanese, or fundamentalist Christian politicians, is welcome and expected.

Tags: U.S.-China Relations