The European Union said it is going ahead with plans to lift its 15-year-old embargo on arms sales to China, rebuffing a plea by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
From the inside the US might have had a chance to influence this decision. The US has become an isolated super power. The US no longer works with its allies. It follows its own agenda without regard to others. Why wouldn't the EU follow its own agenda?
Bush has turned the US into a isolated nation with no allies short of those dependent on its power to survive, like Israel.
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EU to End Embargo on China Arms Sales, Rebuffing Rice (Update1)
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union said it is going ahead with plans to lift its 15-year-old embargo on arms sales to China, rebuffing a plea by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
``The European Union is moving to lift the arms embargo,'' European Commission President Jose Barroso said at a news conference with Rice in Brussels today. ``The European Union cannot be accused of rushing into this.''
Barroso said the 25-nation EU will consult the U.S. over a code of conduct governing future weapons sales to prevent what the U.S. regards as sensitive technologies from falling into Chinese hands.
U.S. opposition to the lifting of the embargo, imposed after China crushed the pro-democracy protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989, underscores the trans-Atlantic tensions that remain after Rice's week-long fence-mending trip to Europe.
``We've made clear our concerns about the military balance, the fact that there are still American forces in that region,'' Rice said. ``All we can ask is that the European Union is aware of our concerns, understands them fully and takes them fully into consideration.''
Looming Confrontation
Differences over China and a looming confrontation with Iran over its nuclear-weapons ambitions will also cloud U.S. President George W. Bush's meetings in Brussels Feb. 22 with leaders of the EU and NATO.
France is spearheading efforts to lift the Chinese arms embargo, gaining backing last year from previous holdouts Britain and Germany. It would take a unanimous EU vote to end the export restrictions.
France says the arms embargo is out of tune with the times because it groups the world's most populous nation and fastest- growing major economy with countries including Myanmar and Zimbabwe that also face EU weapons-sales curbs.
Resuming arms sales would be inappropriate as long as China still holds 2,000 prisoners who were arrested during the Tiananmen uprising, Rice said.
Human Rights
``We have been able to make our views very clear about the arms embargo,'' Rice said. ``We continue to believe that the human-rights concerns need to be taken into consideration.''
In a reflection of European public opinion, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution in November calling for the curbs to remain in place until China ``has taken concrete steps toward improving the human-rights situation in that country.''
China's arms purchases have tripled in four years, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
``If there is an issue about the EU arms embargo with China, it is understood in the context of a strategy that tries to get to a place where China is a positive influence in international politics,'' Rice said.
Rice concludes her debut European tour as secretary of state tonight and tomorrow with meetings with Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, holder of the EU's rotating presidency.
To contact the reporter on this story:
James G. Neuger at jneuger@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Catherine Hickley at chickley@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: February 9, 2005 12:13 EST
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