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EU Proposes End to China Arms Embargo |
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(Source: Deutsche Welle; issued Apr. 15, 2004)
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The European Union has angered human rights organizations by revealing that a 15-year arms embargo with China could be lifted soon. Officials in Brussels announced on Wednesday that EU governments had discussed an end to the ban several times in recent months and were due to make a final decision on April 26, according to a statement from EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin.
EU foreign ministers are due to meet in Ireland next weekend, and will hold talks with their Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing, as part of an EU-Asia meeting within the proceedings. Irish officials commenting on behalf of the current EU presidency have made it clear that while the arms embargo is not on the official agenda, the ministers from the European Union and China will cover “international and regional issues of common concern.”
The driving force behind the proposed scrapping of the embargo comes from European powerhouses Germany and France. If the arms ban were to be lifted, it would open up a whole new defense market, particularly for Germany with its stealth submarines and France with its Mirage fighter jets -- two pieces of military hardware much coveted by the Chinese defense department. However, Germany and France may face opposition from Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, and the EU as a whole faces pressure from the United States, which firmly opposes the lifting.
Despite their expected opposition, other EU nations are itching to get involved in what could be a very lucrative market, with defense suppliers keen to supply the fast modernizing Chinese military.
However, human rights organization Amnesty International reacted to the proposed dropping of arms restrictions by warning the European Union to consider the message it was sending to imprisoned human rights activists in China if it lifted the embargo.
Embargo began after Tiananmen SquareLifting the embargo imposed in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square killings would be the “wrong message” if there was no “clear and concrete progress in return” on human rights, Amnesty spokesman Dick Oosting told reporters.
Amnesty is reiterating its call for an independent inquiry into the events of 1989 when China sent in tanks to break up pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, killing hundreds. “Activists who call for such an enquiry or criticize what happened, even in emails and on Web sites, are still being imprisoned to this day,” it said in a statement.
Amnesty stated that it had “cautioned the EU to consider what message it will be sending to human rights activists in China, who are still being imprisoned 15 years after Tiananmen Square, if it lifts the EU arms embargo against China.”
European Commission President Romano Prodi met with Chinese leaders in Beijing on Wednesday in another show of the burgeoning relationship between the EU and the People’s Republic. “China is now our second largest trading partner,” Prodi said in his speech. “On present trends, the EU will very soon occupy a similar place in China’s own trading hierarchy. Not much longer after that, it will probably be China’s first partner.” Prodi added that EU-China relations had never been so good. He did, however, also mention that more work could be done of the human rights issue in China.
Chinese President Hu Jintao responded in kind by telling the Commission president that China is ready to strengthen consultation and coordination with the EU on important international and regional issues. China is willing to expand mutually beneficial cooperation between itself and the EU, Hu said, adding that the two sides should join hands to contribute to world peace, stability and development. The Chinese leader said that his country supported the enlargement and integration of the EU and hoped the bloc would play a bigger role in international affairs.
The European Union and China set up a strategic partnership last year, an important decision that set a clear direction for the development of relations between them in the new century. (ends)
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EU: Brussels Unlikely To Lift Arms Embargo On China Despite Warming Ties |
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(Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; issued April 15, 2004)
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Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, this week became the first head of the EU's executive arm to visit China. Prodi met the Chinese president and prime minister to discuss a wide range of issues with one of the EU's foremost "strategic partners." However, he could do little to address the key Chinese concern -- to secure the quick lifting of an EU weapons embargo.
BRUSSELS --- The European Union's relationship with China is a complicated one. The bloc has come to regard China as an important "strategic partner," both in political and economic terms.
Visiting Beijing this week (13-14 April), the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, praised Beijing's use of multilateralism. That is a key EU value, which is often contrasted with the U.S. preference for unilateral action. Prodi also underlined China's participation in the EU's autonomous satellite navigation project known as Galileo. China's burgeoning trade with the EU was also mentioned.
But Prodi was unable to offer much help on the issue that currently matters most to Beijing -- the lifting of an EU arms embargo imposed in the wake of the bloody crushing of a pro-democracy demonstration in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Speaking yesterday in Beijing, Prodi said EU member states are currently considering the issue. The commission itself has no formal powers in defense matters.
Prodi's spokesman, Reijo Kemppinen, said in Brussels yesterday that much will depend on China's ability to improve its human rights record. "[Prodi], without making any explicit links or preconditions, said to the Chinese side -- both to the prime minister [and] to the president -- [that] if the Chinese were to make further positive moves towards improving the situation on human rights in China, that would be seen as a very positive sign in the European Union and could possibly help to find a solution to this issue," he said.
However, EU officials say that the debate within the bloc is much more complex. The proposal to lift the embargo was at first primarily sponsored by France and Germany. Both were thought to be interested in opening the vast Chinese market to their arms industries. It is also recognized that improved ties with China would help the EU to realize its ambition to become a major player on the world stage.
One EU official who asked not to be named told RFE/RL that China sees the arms embargo as having a great symbolic significance. Beijing argues that the embargo "spoils the atmosphere" of the evolving strategic partnership.
Prodi spokesman Kemppinen said China's leaders told Prodi the embargo has become obsolete. "On their own part, the Chinese underlined the fact that as they can see, the conditions that led to the imposing of the arms embargo are no longer there and they would like to see [a] rapid lifting of the embargo," he said.
The issue was discussed by EU foreign ministers in January, but has cooled off since. Germany has reportedly ceased to be a driving force behind efforts to have the embargo revoked. And Britain has come under strong U.S. pressure to veto any moves to lift the embargo.
The United States reportedly argues that China's human rights record has not improved. Washington has also voiced increasing concern that the lifting of the embargo could have a negative effect on the security of Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the global human rights watchdog Amnesty International released a statement in Brussels yesterday saying a number of EU member states are already circumventing the embargo and have been selling China spare parts for arms and ammunition for years.
EU sources say the debate is complicated by some bloc members who argue that an embargo is unnecessary as the EU already has a "code of conduct" which prevents arms sales to countries with repressive regimes.
Officials say any EU decision on the embargo is likely to be put off until the end of the current Irish presidency in June, and that the issue may only resurface at the EU-China summit in October.
-ends-
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