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Our "allies" are at it again
Via Lucianne:The European Union is the worldâs rising superpower, poised to overtake both America and Japan as the biggest trade and investment force in China, according to a strategic policy paper published by Beijing yesterday. The Chinese government said the EU was transforming the global landscape with its successful currency launch and strides towards a joint foreign policy, defence (not in my lifetime), and judicial union. Describing EU integration as "irreversible", Beijing marvelled at Europeâs 25-35 per cent share of the global economy and its projected 450 million population after expanding into the former communist bloc next year. (I wonder whose accounting tricks were marvelled at more???) The white paper follows a flurry of Sino-EU ventures, including the Galileo global satellite system, described as a direct challenge to the American GPS monopoly in space. Now the good stuff: The two sides are also working together on nuclear research. France and Germany have been pushing hardest for closer ties with China, hoping to cash in on a lucrative market but also to develop a strategic alliance as a counterweight to American power after the diplomatic trauma of the Iraq war. (Their UN "alliance" worked so well the last time....) Last June, the French defence minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, proposed sharing sensitive military technology with Beijing. She called for a softening of the arms embargo imposed on the country after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
(boo hoo, thatâs what happens when you have no creativity and have to steal ideas. Wasnât there a frog tank article in the past couple of days???Yesterdayâs white paper said the ever-closer military ties rendered the EU embargo a relic from the last century. Chinaâs efforts to court Brussels reflect a new mood of respect for the EU across Asia. India is also rushing to upgrade its ties with Europe, recruiting extra staff to lobby EU officials and MEPs. Wonder if India will have to throw Israel overboard??? Posted by: Anonymous 2003-10-14 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19844 |