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| Europe |
| EU ready to send China 'positive signal' on arms embargo |
| 2004-11-22 |
| The EU says it is ready to give China a positive signal on lifting its 15-year old arms embargo, despite opposition from human rights campaigners and the US. Dutch Foreign Minister and current head of the Council, Bernard Bot, told journalists on Monday that the EU is ready to give a "positive signal" at an EU-China summit next month. "We are ready to give a positive signal as far as the lifting of the embargo is concerned, but ... there remain a number of concerns", he said. His comments follow a discussion by EU foreign ministers on Monday (22 November), which appears to signal a more flexible position from some EU members. The UK and some Scandinavian countries had opposed lifting the ban, which came into place following the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. However, any outright opposition now seems to have dissipated. It is expected that any revision of the ban would be coupled with a tightening up of the EU's code of conduct which governs arms sales which may be enough to get an agreement among EU members. Diplomats say China may be willing to ratify the UN covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it signed in 1998. The EU-China summit takes place on 8 December. "We'll sell you the weapons, but you have to promise not to do anything bad with them!" |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #8 Don't forget, Clinton already gave the ChiComs all sorts of technology... |
| Posted by: someone 2004-11-22 11:22:45 PM |
| #7 Zhang Fei---I think NATO is done already. Look at Turkey, look at how France put a wrench into allowing Patriots to go into Turkey before the Operation Iraqi Freedom. You will always have the French to put the turd in the punchbowl and ruin the punch, if the French feel that doing so will stick it to the US. Better work up bilateral agreements or something. Hell, some NATO nations want to open up weapons trade with Chicoms, which was the subject of this post. Kalle---I have thought alot about Tibet over the years. I think that there will never again be a free Tibet until China is free. All this Dali Lama crap has gotten absolutely nowhere. You cannot appeal to the good side of Chicom psychopaths, there is none. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-11-22 10:31:01 PM |
| #6 If European weapons are used against the US in a war over Taiwan, NATO is done. Kaput. Upon which the US will probably start demanding that those countries that want American protection exit from the EU. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-11-22 10:20:33 PM |
| #5 Don't sell weapons to Red China. The only positive signal it would send is that the EU is led by spineless second-handers. To China, all I have to say is: Remember Tienanmen! the Butchers of Beijing will pay, as surely as Ceaucescu did. I'd also like to know what standards the UN's bribed bureaucrats and European politicians apply to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-22 10:18:11 PM |
| #4 The EU will sell its soul out to Iran and the Chicoms. It is nice to know the the UK and some Scandinavian countries have some principles left. I feel like it is 1936 all over again. The Chinese will say, Thank you very much, and they will obtain what they need to reverse engineer that will eventually point against us. The Chicoms will ratify any UN covenant of Civil and Political rights that the UN throws at them. No skin off their fore. The UN is all mouth and no muscle. Even though we know all this to be true, I am still continually amazed by the EU. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-11-22 10:16:18 PM |
| #3 More like, 'let's band together against that nasty US' -- economically, technically and eventually militarily as well. |
| Posted by: too true 2004-11-22 9:19:50 PM |
| #2 Ew Dum Bastahd |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-22 8:29:28 PM |
| #1 What's dhimmi in Chinese? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-22 8:23:42 PM |