|
UK Tony Caves to Chirac, Schroder Over China Arms Sales
US fears EU weapons sales would further enable China in Taiwan grab America is waging an intense behind-the-scenes battle to stop the European Union lifting its 15-year-old arms embargo against China, warning Britain that it will not tolerate the prospect of European military technology being used to threaten its soldiers in the Far East. As Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, prepares to travel to Beijing next week to discuss ending the arms ban, The Telegraph has learnt that the Bush administration is alarmed by Tony Blair's "cave-in" to French and German pressure. Japan has also expressed dismay over the EU's move dramatically to upgrade relations with Beijing. The Tories have warned the Government that it is creating a "major breach" with Washington and endangering vital exchanges of military technology between Britain and America.Mr Straw told the House of Commons this week that the arms embargo, imposed on China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, would "more likely than not" be lifted by June. The timing seems designed to avoid provoking a public row with President George W Bush before his fence-mending visit to Europe next month - including a stop in London. It would also spare Britain the embarrassment of the EU lifting the ban during its presidency of the body in the second half of the year. Mr Straw insists that a revised EU code of conduct on arms exports, coupled with a new "toolbox" of measures to exchange information on weapons sales, means that arms controls on China would remain as tight as under the embargo. Posted by: Captain America 2005-01-15 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=53712 |