Posted on 02/09/2005 10:19:17 AM PST by Destro
Rice Hints U.S. Resigned to EU Ending China Embargo
Wed Feb 9, 2005 12:44 PM ET
By Paul Taylor
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested on Wednesday that the United States was resigned to the European Union lifting its arms embargo on China and felt Europe was taking U.S. security concerns seriously.
Rice told a news conference after meeting NATO foreign ministers: "We are still in discussions ... about how to deal with the prospect of the lifting of the EU arms embargo on China.
"I really have to underscore how much the Europeans have tried to take account of our concerns, how good the discussions have been," she said.
The EU pledged at a summit meeting with China in December to work toward lifting its 15-year-old arms embargo, imposed after Beijing's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso confirmed at a joint news conference with Rice that the 25-nation bloc was moving to end the ban but had taken on board U.S. sensitivities.
"The European Union cannot be accused of rushing into this," he said. "We agree with the United States that no one has any interest in substantially increasing the quantity or the quality of the weaponry in southeast Asia."
A voluntary code of conduct on EU arms exports was being updated to take account of these issues, Barroso said.
CONCILIATORY TONE
Rice said Washington continued to have worries, but her tone was conciliatory, in contrast to past public U.S. warnings against any EU loosening of the embargo.
"The United States has very specific concerns about the lifting of the embargo having to do with human rights, Tiananmen ... we do have to worry about the military balance in that region and we have concerns about technology and technology transfer," she said.
The U.S. House of Representatives urged President Bush in a non-binding resolution last week to press EU leaders to reconsider, threatening unspecified restrictions on transatlantic defense cooperation if the embargo was lifted.
The motion, passed by a vote of 411-3, deplored a recent increase in arms sales by EU states to China and said lifting the embargo would "place European security policy in direct conflict with United States security interests."
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said last month he expected the ban to be lifted by the middle of this year.
French President Jacques Chirac has been the most determined EU leader in pushing to scrap the embargo, but even Britain, Washington's closest EU ally, has swung behind ending the ban.
Chinese leaders say they want the ban lifted because it is an unfair obstacle in relations, not because it wants to go on an arms buying spree.
Jack. In fact I predict as soon as the EU gets juicy military contracts American arms makers will lobby Congress for teh right to sell China their wares.
Screw that BS. Europe should receive an ultimatum - you have an arms trade with China, or one with the USA, but not both. Let's see how they like the idea of facing Russian armored divisions with Chinese tech.
What about America's role in making China rich enough to afford said quality arms? Once you let China into the WTO and make China your free trade partner what justification the exists for an arms embargo? That your scared she might knock you off the world power perch?
Yes. And probably all ready happening.
The closer they get to our level of capability, the more likely they will provoke a war. Thus, if you don't want a potentially nuclear war between the US and China (and I would guess most of Europe outside France doesn't want that), such a policy makes perfect sense.
Rewind to 1939.
You know if the American Dollar wasn't artifically tied to the Chinese Yuan. We'd really be getting our butts kicked by the Euro worse than it is now.
That is another irony also!
Quite right. China, for its part, is wargaming to defeat the U.S. Navy in its littoral waters during a Taiwan invasion. We have to game to disrupt the invasion while forcing the PLAN to come out into the Phillipine Sea and play our ballgame AWAY from the reach of the PLAAF. The extent to which the Europeans give the Chinese standoff capability puts a crimp in our planning.
We'll need to wrap things up in Iraq over the next couple of years before things heat up in the Pacific. Expect no moves before the Beijing Olympics.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
How on Earth can we tell them that after the Clinton administration already sold missile guidance technology to the Chinese?
There has been a large camp for that exact thing in DC for quite some time.
M1A Abrams to China - think of the profit margins!
with America switching over to the new generation of fighter jets - we need a market for the still excellent F-16 and F-15 fighters. Think of the jobs saved in your district Senator!
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