By Hua Zhang
华章
On December 24, Beijing time, US President Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year of 2023 (FY2023 NDAA) into law, which created a new high with a total sum of US$858 billion, about US$80 billion more than that in the previous year. This reveals that the world's strongest military power is still obsessed with beefing up its military capacity.
北京时间12月24日，美国总统拜登签署“2023财年国防授权法案”。法案总额近8580亿美元，也较前一财年的授权额度多了800亿美元，创下历史新高，这显示出作为全球第一军事强国的美国，依然痴迷于扩充军力。
What's more noteworthy is that the document includes more than 50 pages on the Taiwan Island, even going so far as to say that the US would provide military financing for and sell weapons to the island. This not only violates the solemn commitment made by the US on the Taiwan question in the three China-US joint communiqués, but also goes against its still-fresh public statement made this year – the US doesn't support "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan", doesn't seek to use Taiwan question as a tool to curb China, and has no intention to contain China.
更让人关注的是，法案中涉台部分长达约50页，甚至包含为中国台湾地区提供“军事融资”和售武等内容。美方行径，不仅违背了其在中美三个联合公报中，就台湾问题作出的严肃承诺，也背离了其今年以来公开许下的“不支持‘两个中国’或‘一中一台’，不寻求把台湾问题作为工具遏制中国，无意围堵中国”的诺言。
There is an interesting detail. Soon after the US houses passed the FY2023 NDAA in mid-December, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities of Taiwan region went on ballyhoo about that the Act asked the US Congress to provide US$10billion of "free military assistance" to them in the next five years, and consequently sang a song of praise about the solid US-Taiwan relation. Yet only days later, the US Congress released the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 agreed upon by the two houses, which didn't contain a single word about providing an annual US$2 billion of "free military assistance" to Taiwan, but replaced it with "loans" that Taiwan has to pay back both principal and interests within 12 years.
此外，还有一个细节值得玩味。本月中旬，美国参众两院刚刚通过该法案不久，台湾民进党当局就大肆宣传，称法案要求美国国会未来5年向台湾提供100亿美元“无偿军援”，进而高唱“美台关系坚如磐石”的赞歌。然而，几天后，美国国会公布的“2023会计年度综合拨款法案”的两院协商版本，只字未提每年向台湾提供20亿“无偿军援”的计划，而是改成了“军事贷款”，且台湾必须在12年内偿还贷款本金和利息。
The farce perfectly shows the US really takes Taiwan region as a chess piece. For many years, the US has been selling weapons to the island – seven times during Biden's term alone – against the three China-US joint communiqués, but every piece of those weapons comes at a price because they are paid for rather than being presented for free.
此番闹剧恰恰说明了台湾在美国心中的真实定位--一枚棋子。多年来，美国一直违背中美三个联合公报的有关承诺，持续对台军售，仅拜登就任总统以来就达7次。但台湾用的每一件美式装备，都是花了真金白银买来的，美国从未援助过台湾一枪一炮。
However, the pricy weapon orders are just bullets that the Taiwan authorities have to bite as Washington often sells them defective or outdated military equipment at a much higher price than other purchasers. Taiwan media reported that when Taiwan's so-called legislative agency reviewed the 2023 budget submitted by the "defense department" not long ago, it pointed out that Taiwan's armed forces received huge amounts of defective or subpar weapons and equipment from the US from2017 to 2021, for which the seller refused to make any compensation. Public opinions on the island condemned the DPP for paying gold for American garbage. When the US rakes in exorbitant profits from its arms sales to Taiwan and charges the island with protection fees to line the pocket of its own military-industrial enterprises, is that how a country would treat its "ally"?
然而，面对一张张天价军售订单，台湾方面却是有苦难言：美国经常将一些有瑕疵或者过时的军事装备卖给台湾，价格还往往比其他买家高得多。不久前，台媒报道，台立法机构审议防务部门2023年度预算案时披露，在2017年至2021年的对美军购中，台军收入了大量有瑕疵或不符要求的军备，而美方拒绝赔偿，引发岛内舆论怒斥民进党当局“高价买美国的破铜烂铁”。借军售之机疯狂敛财、“收保护费”，以满足本国军工企业暴利，美国对台湾哪儿有所谓“盟友”间的一丝情意？
In addition to Taiwan's finance, the US has recently also set eyes on its high-tech industry by forcing and coaxing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to move its production lines of advanced chips to America on the grounds of maintaining "national security" and "industry chain stability". This will negatively affect Taiwan in many ways, including talent drain, investment outflow, moving out of supply chain, theft of business secrets, and weakening of defense capabilities.
除了吸干台湾财政之外，美国近来还打算掏空岛内的高科技产业。近来，美国政府以维护“国家安全”“产业链稳定”为由，威逼利诱台积电将先进芯片生产线搬到美国。这将给台湾带来包括人才流失、投资流出、供应链外移、商业机密被窃、防务能力降低等多项影响。
On the one hand, the US is using Taiwan to contain China and even trying to ignite a conflict to disrupt China's rise; on the other hand, it is exhausting Taiwan of its capital and technology, getting ready to abandon this chess piece any minute. What a marvelous show of egoistic self-interests and "America first"!
一边用台湾堡垒化来牵制中国，甚至妄图引爆冲突打断中华民族崛起进程；一边将台湾的资本和技术全部吃干榨尽，为将来令其从“棋子”变“弃子”作好准备。美国再一次将利己主义、“美国优先”展现得淋漓尽致。
As Taiwan newspaper China Times commented, from every point of view, Taiwan is being crippled and pushed to the edge of war day by day by the US, while Want Daily also said given the DPP’s engrained "pro-US and anti-China" ideology, the island is more likely to be reduced into a bargaining chip.
正如台湾《中国时报》评论称，不管怎么看，在美国推手之下，台湾一天天被削弱，一步步往战火前进。台湾《旺报》也表示，由于民进党坚持“抗中保台”“亲美反中”的意识形态，台湾沦为筹码的概率随之升高。
It has now become as clear as broad daylight who is the initiator of the Taiwan-Strait crisis and who is pushing the Strait to the brink of war. We advise the DPP authorities and other political forces in Taiwan to truly put at heart the wellbeing of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait instead of following America's anti-China ploy for personal gains. If they keep doing that, they will only make themselves the historical sinners of the Chinese nation whose names will be nailed to the historical pillar of ignominy.
谁是台海危局的始作俑者，谁把两岸推向兵凶战危的险境，答案已不言自明。希望台湾民进党以及其他政治势力，真正把两岸同胞的福祉作为政治考量，而不是一味以个人私利追随美国的反华图谋，那样只会成为中华民族的千古罪人，终将被牢牢钉在历史的耻辱柱上。
Editor's note: Originally published on china.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
