THE Chinese government has condemned the US and President Obama for agreeing to a $6.4bn US arms sale package to Taiwan.
The island of Taiwan is the part of China where the remnants of the army and government of General Chiang Kai Shek fled, after the victory of the Chinese revolution in 1949.
Ever since then, Taiwan has been run by the Chinese counter-revolutionaries who claimed to be the legal government of China.
In the last period, a trend has emerged which wants to declare Taiwan an independent state, and not part of China.
The reaction of the Chinese government has been to state that any formal declaration of independence from China will be met by military intervention to reclaim the national territory, and reunite the country.
Since the death of Mao Tse Tung, the Chinese government has swung to the right.
It has allowed Special Economic Zones along the Chinese coastal areas where foreign capital exploits Chinese workers, and allowed the development of the beginnings of a Chinese bourgeoisie.
It has said that it is building a China which remains under the dictatorship of the proletariat, but within the one state has two social systems, operating side by side, socialism and capitalism.
This development was welcomed in Taiwan and led to hopes that China would be reunited peacefully.
Now the US has flung a spanner into these works, with its $6.4bn arms deal, awakening new fears in China that Taiwan is to be encouraged to formally break from it.
The Chinese government yesterday declared: ‘The sale is a wrong decision, which not only undermines China’s national security interests and her national unification cause, but also once again hurts the national feelings of the Chinese people.
‘Moreover, it also will cause serious damage to the overall cooperation and relationship between China and the United States. . .
‘In the August 17 Communique jointly issued by China and the United States in 1982, the US said clearly it intended to gradually reduce the sale of arms to Taiwan both in quality and quantity, leading to a final termination of such sales.’
The statement declares that after this deal ‘it is totally reasonable to suspect the sincerity of US pledges on “respecting each other’s core interests”.’
In fact, the world capitalist crisis is driving the US ruling class into conflict with China, despite the fact that China is one of the major buyers of US debts, and that without Chinese support, the US will go bankrupt.
The US is demanding ever more shrilly that the Chinese government revalues its currency upwards, so that US exports swamp the ‘Chinese market’ while Chinese commodities are kept out of the US.
The US ruling class is banking on the Chinese bureaucracy not daring to withdraw its financial backing for US debt, since that would be a cause for war.
In his State of the Union Speech, Obama made it clear that trade war and a struggle for markets were his main policies.
Describing the US crisis, Obama declared: ‘Meanwhile China is not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany is not waiting. India is not waiting. These nations – they’re not standing still. These nations aren’t playing for second place. . .
He added: ‘We need to export more of our goods. . . So tonight, we set a new goal: We will double our exports over the next five years. . . We have to seek new markets aggressively, just as our competitors are. . . And that’s why we’ll continue to shape a Doha trade agreement that opens global markets. . .’
The US has confirmed that China is one of its strategic enemies. At home, it is cutting the wages and jobs of US workers while abroad it is getting ready to force open markets by war if necessary. The workers of the world must unite and organise the world socialist revolution to smash capitalism and imperialism. This is the only way out of the crisis.
