Separatists in Taiwan are being naive or self-deceiving if they consider the US State Department’s approval of a marketing license to sell military submarine technology to the island to be good news.

It is only in their imaginations that such technology will boost the island’s “defense” capabilities. Even having bought the technology, and should the island manage to master the capability to manufacture submarines on its own, the vessels will not help them achieve their goal.

Rather than being good news, the bait the US has offered them to continue pursuing their unattainable ambition is actually bad news; for Taiwan and for the relationship across the Straits.

By passing the Taiwan Travel Act and approving the sale of submarine technology to Taiwan, the US government has shown it is intent on using the island as a pawn in its game.

By encouraging “official” exchange visits and selling weapons and weapons technology to the island, the Trump administration is intruding in China’s internal affairs. In addition, separatists on the island are being emboldened by what the US is doing, which is encouraging them to go even further with their separatist moves. As a result, cross-Straits relations will only deteriorate.

For Taiwan leaders who have refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus on one China, the US’ approval of the sale of submarine technology to the island has provided them with an opportunity to further kidnap the well-being of Taiwan compatriots by touting the island’s relationship with the US as a sign of the island’s “independence”.

However, the further Taiwan separatist forces push their bid for secession, the more grave the situation will become. Foresight cannot be gained from the past, by analogy or calculation, it must be divined from what lies before us, and that foretells that without any restraint on their reckless antics the island’s separatists will spark a war.

While playing its own game indulging their vanity and vexation, the Trump administration would do well to heed the Chinese adage that if you must play, you should always know the stakes and when to quit.

For Taiwan compatriots, peace and prosperity lies in good relations across the Taiwan Straits. The Chinese mainland sincerely seeks to develop amicable cross-Straits ties and realize the peaceful reunification of the island with its motherland, in whatever form possible.