Letters | Why US arms sales to Taiwan are a gift for China

While China has vehemently and publicly opposed the recent arms deal between the US and Taiwan (“Taiwan welcomes latest US arms deal, says no intention of weapons race with Beijing” October 22), deep down China’s leaders must be thinking, “Christmas has come early this year!” Taiwan is a priceless asset to China, not so much as a part of China, but as an arms-length territory with access to valuable third-party intelligence.

Reunification has always been a goal for China and the Communist Party, at least to the outside world. In the 80s and 90s, Taiwan would have represented a huge part of China’s gross domestic product. However, with the rapid expansion of China’s economy, Taiwan’s contribution has become comparable to that of major mainland Chinese cities. In addition, subjugating a conquered people is hard and expensive.

With the re-election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and her anti-China policy, there has been a noticeable increase in both weapons trade and technology business between the US and Taiwan. On the face of it, this looks disadvantageous to China.

However, every weapons system sold or every chip factory built in Taiwan is an opportunity for China to get its hands on it. Also, any spy operation would be easier to carry out in Taiwan due to geographical proximity and shared ethnicity.