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Germany Seeks to End EU's China Arms Ban
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday called for an end to a 15-year-old European arms embargo on China imposed after the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, as the two countries signed contracts worth $2.1 billion for Airbus jets and other industrial goods. On his sixth trip to China, Schroeder received a warm welcome from Premier Wen Jiabao, who called the visit "another family meeting" at the start of talks in the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's legislature in central Beijing. At a news conference later, Schroeder noted his past calls for an end to the European Union's 15-year-old ban on weapons sales to China, and said, "My opinion hasn't changed." Wen called the ban an outdated "result of the Cold War" and said he hoped for a decision on it at a European Union summit on Dec. 17, though he didn't say whether he expected the ban to be lifted. Wen is expected to lobby European leaders this week at an EU-China conference in the Netherlands. Beijing says a failure to lift the arms embargo could harm diplomatic relations. Germany and France are eager to do business with China's military, which is spending billions of dollars modernizing its arsenal, with much of the business now going to Russia. But other EU governments say Beijing has failed to do enough to improve its human rights record. Schroeder has also been criticized by members of his Social Democrat and Green party coalition for backing a lifting of the arms ban. Posted by: JerseyMike 2004-12-07 |
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