The 5 members of UN Security Council are 5 biggest arm sellers in the world and the ultimate global military-industrial complex. They help each other on the sales.

Let's not simplify this with simple narrative of China simply mad at US selling arm to Taiwan. If China isn't mad, US won't make the sales. In return, US sells Taiwan a bunch of expansive junks that pose no threat what so ever if China decided to take Taiwan by force.

Also, the timing of this apparent incongruity and potential horse trade seems to be Chinese created. Both have been in the works for years, and it has been China that has refused to participate in sanctions until this point, perhaps to take greatest advantage of its bargaining positions. I'm sure they saw and learned from the Russian push-back on defensive missiles in Eastern Europe, as they appear to be repeating the model.

On the other hand, Obama not keeping his meet and greet with the Dali Lama loses the U.S. absolutely nothing and we gain quite a bit with mainland China. Why does the Dali Lama continues to enjoy such favor among western leaders?

This might sound crazy, but Iran has elections and Ahmadinejad is, to varying degrees, answerable to Iranians. Sanctions might change that. Yes, there is always a scary element of hard-liners with influence lurking in the background, but then, one might say this about many countries, ahem. Anyway, Iran is not likely to start a war, and though they might be good at big talk and posturing, there are real considerations and consequences beyond all the talk for whoever is in power. Sanctions that might cripple the current elected regime will bring whatever is behind door number 3.

Which would leave the devil you know or the one you don't.

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that we in the U.S. were celebrating Iran's "citizen revolt"? It was certainly put down, but the fact that it got as far as it did leads me to believe that the nation isn't easily reduceable to "murderous Islamic".

Besides all that, sanctions don't work, they haven't worked at least. Those now calling for sanctions would be impatient if results weren't immediate, and soon the drums of war would start. I cannot imagine any scenario under which we can afford to start another war, let alone whether we should consider one. However, there are a lot of big pants fellows who don't feel that way, which scares me much more than Iran.

Just one POV.

The package of arms sales to Taiwan has been discussed since 2001, and what Taiwan is getting is *very* watered down compared to what Bush originally proposed (no subs, F-16 still under discussion). Approving the Patriot missiles sales puts the issue of Taiwan arms sales off the table for the rest of the Obama administration.

Similarly, the issue of sanctions against Iran is a story that has been off and on for a decade.

It's really hard to do a quid-pro-quo on this because US policy toward Taiwan doesn't change the political calculations regarding Chinese policy toward Iran and vice versa.

All of life is explained on TV.

I doubt it. China sold $13 billion in treasuries in 11/2009 but bought $28 billion. It was likely rolling over its holdings....

http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/s1_41408.txt

Also 1) in the grand scheme of things $10 billion is not a lot of money and 2) if you want to "send a message" you get on the phone and call the foreign ministry of the counterpart. Linking two things in non-obvious ways just confuses everyone.

The fact of the matter is that this is not a new issue. It's been an irritant for the last thirty years of US-PRC relations and it's probably going to be an irritant for the next thirty.

A seed was planted in a country quickly rising with over 150 years of national humiliation... Clearly the United States needs a new vision for its relations with China or how long can the world afford without the true co-operation between the two countries ?

This cannot be a coincidence.

The day Hillary asked China to budge on tougher Iran sanctions was the final warning, and if China didn't change her position, an arms deal is forthcoming on the deadline. And voila, here it is.

But the question is: why would China want to join the sanction against her 3rd largest oil supplier, in which China has invested billions of dollars, in exchange for some oil from the puppet nations of the U.S.? Iran is no threat to China but holds key long-term strategic importance to the country.

Yes it can be. Diplomats don't negotiate on newspapers, they negotiate in private. You only read about things in newspapers after a deal or non-deal has been made in private.

Richard M: The day Hillary asked China to budge on tougher Iran sanctions was the final warning, and if China didn't change her position, an arms deal is forthcoming on the deadline. And voila, here it is.

There is no such thing as "final warning" in this sort of diplomacy. Even after you've played these cards, you still have to live with each other. Taiwan and Iran are *still* issues that both the US and China are going to have to deal with for at least the next twenty years.

Also, both Iran and Taiwan are issues that have been on the stove for months if not years. One reason that the announcement came out now is that Congress has just started it's legislative session so that if Obama wants to sell arms to Taiwan or wants to push tough sanctions on Iran, they basically have to be announced about now to make it into the legislative agenda.

Because China does not want Iran to be a nuclear power. The more nuclear powers there are in the world, the less powerful China is. The problem is that it's not likely that Iran is going to do a nuclear test tomorrow, and so there is a difference of opinion in how hard to squeeze Iran now.

Also Iran is a major supplier to Britain and France as well.

john doe: in exchange for some oil from the puppet nations of the U.S.? Iran is no threat to China but holds key long-term strategic importance to the country.

If Iran gets nukes and long range delivery systems then Iran becomes a strategic threat to China.

I think the NYT report is a very accurate one, providing a good background on the Obama administration's thinking. Google, Hillary's Iran statement and the arm sales to Taiwan are all part of coordinated strategy to push back on China.

Especially Taiwan, it hits China hard where it hurts most.

But let's face it, these arm sales to Taiwan are pretty meaningless militarily. China can double the short-range missiles across the strait easily. US sells more F-16's? China can increase its indigenous 3rd generation aircraft without much difficulties. Besides, these expensive, somewhat outdated toys can bankrupt an already struggling Taiwan economy. Keep in mind, the current detente between China and Taiwan is not because China suddenly had a change of heart on Taiwan, but because Taiwan's pro-independence movement and DPP government had run its course and led it to a road of bankrupt and self-destruction.

Today, if a war broke out in Taiwan Strait, the US had to fight China directly in order for Taiwan to have a chance. Taiwan's military is basically for show now relative to China's military.

It seems to me US has always served as a motivator for China's defense development. The Chinese defense industry was struggling mightily throughout the '90s due to lack of orders, funding and commercial distractions. Then came the Clinton administration's sending two aircraft carriers close to Taiwan Strait in '96 in a show of force, the '99 bombing of Chinese embassy in former Yugoslavia by NATO, and the 2001 Hainan Island incident. The Chinese defense industry has been busy and flooded with funding since then. The Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) that the US worries about was developed since then. In 2002, the US government forced Israel to cancel the contract to build four AWACS aircraft for China, an enraged China went on to develop its own indigenous AWACS aircraft in record time.

I see the current arms sales to Taiwan is more a political statement than anything else. We'll see more of this kind of statements in the coming years since this is one card that US can play. But gradually, we will see the adjustment of power balance in the western Pacific region, and this kind of statement will become increasingly meaningless.

It would be interesting to see how China would proceed to deal with the defense contracting firms and their parent/subsidiaries with their interest in China, most notably Boeing. US government can shrug off Chinese threats, but individual firms are alot more vulnerable. Big questions are:

How would the US government shield these companies from the ill effect of such political disputes?

What if individual company refuse to provide weapon system should a firm deem it against their interest with China? Can the government force such firm to do so, and also provide the necessary maintainance service?

I can already imagine a situation where defense companies cave under the implicit possibility of sanctions that they would be no longer interested in doing business if they are aware that the systems are intended for Taiwan.

It would not be far-fetched that US would be unable to sell ANY weapon to Taiwan in the future because no defense contractor is willing to cooperate, fearing that their other civilian business interest in China would be harmed.

Of course, if the US government would be willing to reimburse Boeing for lost revenues from selling civilian aircraft to China, they would still comply...

Some of us are more concerned about the Chinese regime with its own nuclear bombs.

The US is also not counting on China for help with Iran. The so called Beijing Government has shown that it cares not for the values shared by democratic governments around the world and the US is just trying to show that the cabal in BJ continue to be the "party of No" in international affairs. No to specific targets in Copenhagen, No to protection of IP rights, No to holding African and 3rd world dictators accountable.

China's IP theft and cyberattacks go to the heart of American power in an information age. The damage caused by China's theft is already greater than that caused by 9/11. Wake up America.