There’s been a ban on U.S. arms sales to China since three days after 1989’s Tiananmen Square clash, when tanks and soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army attacked and killed an unknown number of Chinese students. At least until last Friday, that is.
C-130s/Lockheed
President Obama sent a terse letter to Congress saying it was time for an exception. “I hereby report to the Congress that it is in the national interest of the United States to terminate the suspensions under section 902(a)(3) of the Act with respect to the issuance of temporary munitions export licenses for exports to the People’s Republic of China insofar as such restrictions pertain to the C-130 cargo aircraft to be used in oil spill response operations at sea,” he wrote (guess the Chinese saw what a bang-up job we did with that BP oil spill and want to learn from the best).
Sure, this is a one-time deal, but it’s bound to lead to more. After all, arms sales to China may be one way to reduce our trade deficit with Beijing. Perhaps then we won’t have to borrow so much money from China to develop weapons for the coming super-power war with China.