EU leaders have indicated that they want to press ahead with their controversial move to lift the arms embargo against China. Speaking after the traditional Spring Summit in Brussels (23 March), German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said, "nothing has changed and nothing has changed in my stance". Mr Schroeder also said he had not discussed the issue with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and that "neither he nor I wanted that".
French President Jacques Chirac said, "There is no reason to think that there has been a change in this area".
TBO.com includes some background on France and Germany's thinking on the arms embargo:
Europe has long been divided over lifting the ban. France and Germany have called it a Cold War relic that holds back trade opportunities with China's booming economy. Chirac, in an interview published in Wednesday's editions of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, said lifting the embargo was aimed at improving relations with the Asian economic giant, not selling weapons. "The Europeans have no intention of engaging in an armaments exportation policy toward China," Chirac was quoted as saying. "What the Europeans want is to normalize their relations with China." Britain, Sweden and other European nations have been more reticent, citing continued human rights abuses and China's threat to Taiwan.
The United States has lobbied strongly for the ban to stay, saying European weapons could destabilize east Asia and threaten U.S. forces in the Pacific. Other European officials have said lifting the embargo could be delayed because of a failure to get agreement within the bloc for a series of safeguards to prevent a sudden, destabilizing flood of European weapons or the export of high-tech arms.
The key issue here is what the EU is saying about China's threat to Taiwan. Perhaps they are saying, "Taiwan is not worth going to war over." Frankly I agree Taiwan is not worth a war with China since it is really about a civil war stretched out over 50 years. However, sending the signal now when China is increasingly threatening amounts to an invitation to go ahead from the EU. They seem to say, "We want to have normalized relations. What you do with Taiwan is your affair. We won't support an invasion, but we won't try to stop it either." This will make Bush, already committed to defending Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines very nervous.
TBO.com | EUObserver.com
Mar 23, 2005
EU's Foreign Policy Chief Says Keeping Chinese Arms Embargo Unfair
By Constant Brand
Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Maintaining the European Union's 15-year arms embargo against China, imposed after the 1989 clampdown on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, is "unfair," and European leaders are leaning toward lifting it, the bloc's foreign policy chief said Wednesday.
Javier Solana told reporters at an EU summit that the 25-nation bloc was still assessing the issue but was moving toward "a political decision to end a situation that we think is unfair to maintain sanctions against China so many years after" the event for which they were imposed.
Washington, meanwhile, has hardened its opposition to European arms sales to China and urged the EU to maintain the embargo in the wake of Beijing's new law authorizing a military attack on Taiwan.
Solana said there had been "no change" among EU nations in their will to have the embargo lifted after China passed the anti-succession law. The only concerns remained under what conditions, he said.
EU officials had worked toward having it lifted by June. However, Solana said it was unclear whether that deadline would be met.
The EU's so-called code of conduct, meant to strictly regulate arms sales, still has to be completed before a decision can be made on lifting the embargo on China. The code is expected to bar sales of weaponry or related technology to countries in armed conflicts with others.
Solana said the EU leaders shared U.S. concerns over China's human rights record, but he added that the record was no reason to keep an arms embargo in place.
"Things are moving. They are not moving at the speed we like it to but that is not justified to maintain a situation that comes from a time back," he said.
Europe has long been divided over lifting the ban. France and Germany have called it a Cold War relic that holds back trade opportunities with China's booming economy.
Chirac, in an interview published in Wednesday's editions of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, said lifting the embargo was aimed at improving relations with the Asian economic giant, not selling weapons.
"The Europeans have no intention of engaging in an armaments exportation policy toward China," Chirac was quoted as saying. "What the Europeans want is to normalize their relations with China."
Britain, Sweden and other European nations have been more reticent, citing continued human rights abuses and China's threat to Taiwan.
The United States has lobbied strongly for the ban to stay, saying European weapons could destabilize east Asia and threaten U.S. forces in the Pacific.
Other European officials have said lifting the embargo could be delayed because of a failure to get agreement within the bloc for a series of safeguards to prevent a sudden, destabilizing flood of European weapons or the export of high-tech arms.
AP-ES-03-23-05 1108EST
This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBC9QDQN6E.html
EU leaders remain unchanged on China arms embargo
24.03.2005 - 09:54 CET | By Honor Mahony
EU leaders have indicated that they want to press ahead with their controversial move to lift the arms embargo against China.
Speaking after the traditional Spring Summit in Brussels (23 March), German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said, "nothing has changed and nothing has changed in my stance".
Mr Schröder also said he had not discussed the issue with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and that "neither he nor I wanted that".
French President Jacques Chirac said, "There is no reason to think that there has been a change in this area".
Mr Chirac also this week gave an interview to Japanese paper, the Asahi Shimbun, to say that the lifting of the embargo does not necessarily mean the sale of arms to China.
According to the Financial Times, the UK has consulted other member states following pressure from Washington not to lift the embargo.
The EU is aiming to lift the embargo in June - however since China passed a law allowing it to use force against Taiwan if the island makes a bid for independence, there has been strong speculation that the June date will be postponed.
From July, London, a close ally of the US, takes over the EU Presidency and is unlikely to want to clash with Washington over the issue.
The move to lift the embargo - which has to be approved by all 25 member states - has been pushed by France and Germany.
The EU is arguing that China has changed and that the embargo - imposed in 1989 after the Tiananmen square massacre of democracy protestors - is now outdated.
With the lifting of the embargo, the EU would impose an arms code of conduct.
But the US is strongly opposed to the move fearing US weapons technology in Chinese hands.
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