Beijing's conduct forcing everyone else in the region to arm themselves

THE Obama administration may have been pushed into a decision last week to sell two guided missile frigates, anti-tank missiles and other arms worth US$1.8 billion to Taiwan but it clearly falls within its calibrated multi-pronged strategy against China assertiveness in the South China Sea and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region.

The push came from the Republican-controlled Congress, which for a variety of motives, demanded that the White House set a deadline for the arms sale. The US Congress authorised the sale of up to four Perry-class warships and other weapons to the Kuomintang government in Taipei a year ago. And although President Barack Obama did not veto that legislation, he delayed the…