A few months before the end of the Bush Administration, it finally made good the promise it had made years before to sell Taiwan defensive and offensive weapons worth of 6.5 billion U.S. dollars. This action will surely anger the Chinese Government and its military. To them, more advanced weapons in the Taiwanese hands will prolong the process of an ultimate reunification. The Chinese may be mulling over some measures of retaliation at a time when the U.S. is struggling in the quagmire of a financial crisis. The Bush Administration may have reckoned that as U.S.’s second largest creditor, China would be a loser if it decided to use its multi-billion funds as a weapon. It may be good calculation, but I think the Administration has failed to understand the historical dimension of China with regard to its territorial claim and national sovereignty. Historically, China has gone through many periods of division and reunification, with reunification being the mainstream. Take the Three Kingdoms (三国) for an example. They could have very well minded each of their own businesses and become three different countries when they were equally strong. The fact, however, was that each tried to get the upper hand of the others and attempted to reunite what they regarded as the one country under the reign of a nominal monarch or “Son of Heaven (天子).” The Chinese urge to reunify its “motherland” or “Land Bequeathed by the Common Ancestor (祖国)” is akin, as it were, to the instinct of the salmon that defy all odds to come back to their birthplace to spawn. Sales of weapons can only serve to encourage the Chinese to develop and produce more advanced weapons. But in the end, whether the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will be reunified or not depends more on their bilateral exchanges and mutual understandings. Despite their quality and quantity, weapons may eventually not be used at all. Certainly, it all depends on China’s growth. As it becomes stronger and stronger economically and militarily the way it progresses, the Taiwan issue will become increasingly marginal. I really hope for a peaceful solution of the China-Taiwan issue, with no weapons ever employed on either side, and I’m very optimistic about that.