EU Will Not Lift China Arms Ban
from BBC on Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Article ID: D157606The European Union is not ready to lift its arms embargo on China, according to a senior EU minister.
Bernard Bot, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, made the comment at the start of EU-China talks.
Mr Bot said he hoped the ban, imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, would be lifted next year.
There has been mounting pressure to lift the ban, but the US and some EU members want it to stay in place.
"We are working assiduously but... the time is not right to lift the embargo," Mr Bot said.
He was speaking as leaders from the EU and China began two days of talks in the Netherlands.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is leading the Chinese delegation, and discussions are expected to focus on trade and investment issues.
But the arms ban has dominated the build-up to the meeting, with Germany and France calling for it to be lifted.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jaques Chirac have both made very public calls for the embargo to be ended, saying it was out of date.
Geopolitics
But Washington is concerned that arms sold to China by the EU could be used against Taiwan and risk sucking the US into a regional conflict.
The US has threatened to stop the transfer of some sensitive military technology to European countries if the ban were to be abolished.
Beijing denied the lifting of a ban would fuel an arms race with Taiwan, and described the embargo as "outdated".
"If the ban is maintained, bilateral relations will definitely be affected. We think this is a kind of political discrimination," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said earlier this month.
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