China Postpones Meeting with U.S.

By: Reid Hulett
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/06/china.us/index.html#cnnSTCText

China has very recently either postponed or canceled upcoming military meetings with the U.S. They did this because the U.S. has plans to sell $6.4 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan. The deal has not been passed by Congress yet. But if it does, it will not violate any part of the Taiwan Relations Act, which allows the U.S. to sell weapons to Taiwan for self-defense. Ever since the Taiwan split from mainland China in 1949, the U.S. has vowed to defend Taiwan in the case of an unprovoked attack by China, so the deal that the U.S. is hoping to pass seems completely acceptable. I doubt Taiwan plans on attacking China due to the fact that China would have them greatly outnumbered and outpowered. The U.S. needs to make sure that this does not postpone meetings for an extended period of time because the U.S. needs China for the negotiations over Iran's and North Korea's nuclear programs. Without China on our side, our ability to negotiate with these countries would take a hit because China is another world power and would be able to help a lot. So, the U.S. government really needs to make sure that they work out these differences as soons as possible because the negotiations about the nuclear programs cannot be stopped or delayed. It is way to big of an issue for this to happen.