Tuesday, June 14, 2005
EU Abandons Plans to Lift China Arms Embargo
From Bloomberg
The European Union shelved plans to lift a 16-year-old arms embargo against China because of concerns about the nation's human-rights record and Pacific rim stability, completing a policy shift that marks a U.S. victory and a French defeat.
Things just don't seem to be coming together for Jacques Chirac these days.
French President Jacques Chirac says the embargo against the world's fastest-growing major economy and most populous nation is an anachronism. Lifting the ban would give Europe access to growing demand from the military in China, where arms purchases tripled between 1999 and 2003, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
EU leaders last December set a mid-2005 target date for ending the ban, which the Chinese government calls ``political discrimination.'' Support for resuming arms sales faded after the U.S. warned against upsetting the East Asian military balance and China passed a law threatening to react with armed force to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan.
The tendency of the European elite to try to impose their agenda on the Contintent has bitten them once again in the derrière. After seeing the Michael Jackson verdict I thought we could all use some good news.
The European Union shelved plans to lift a 16-year-old arms embargo against China because of concerns about the nation's human-rights record and Pacific rim stability, completing a policy shift that marks a U.S. victory and a French defeat.
Things just don't seem to be coming together for Jacques Chirac these days.
French President Jacques Chirac says the embargo against the world's fastest-growing major economy and most populous nation is an anachronism. Lifting the ban would give Europe access to growing demand from the military in China, where arms purchases tripled between 1999 and 2003, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
EU leaders last December set a mid-2005 target date for ending the ban, which the Chinese government calls ``political discrimination.'' Support for resuming arms sales faded after the U.S. warned against upsetting the East Asian military balance and China passed a law threatening to react with armed force to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan.
The tendency of the European elite to try to impose their agenda on the Contintent has bitten them once again in the derrière. After seeing the Michael Jackson verdict I thought we could all use some good news.
papijoe 5:53 AM
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