Friday April 15, 2005

EU official: Europe unlikely to lift ban on arms sales to China soon

LUXEMBOURG (AP) - The European Union is unlikely to lift its 15-year-old ban on arms sales to China soon, due to disagreements among the 25-nation bloc's members, the EU external relations chief said Friday.

"I can hardly imagine an early decision,'' Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters on arrival for an EU foreign ministers' meeting to discuss Europe's relations with China.

The issue of lifting the embargo has drawn divisions among _ and within _ the 25 EU nations. It has also has put trans-Atlantic ties under strain, with the United States voicing concern after China adopted a law authorizing military action against Taiwan if the island declared independence.

Diplomatic sources suggested the embargo would remain in place at least until 2006.

Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden want to retain the ban on arms sales, while Germany and France have long urged fellow EU members to lift the embargo imposed after the Chinese military crushed student protests on Tienanmen Square in 1989.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been keen to lift the ban, but misgivings have surfaced in his coalition of Social Democrats and Greens and among the conservative opposition.

On Thursday, he told the German parliament that the ban hindered Europe's efforts to boost trade with Europe.

"The lifting of the embargo does not have the goal of increasing arms deliveries to China. The core question is how the EU and Germany can pursue their interests toward China in the medium and long term,'' he said.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, a Green and Schroeder's most important ally, sounded more cautious, saying a greater Chinese commitment to human rights would help craft an EU consensus on lifting the embargo.

"I appeal to China: It can contribute a lot to making such a consensus happen,'' Fischer told the legislature.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, who will chair the two-day foreign ministers meeting starting Friday, wants a broad debate about China.

In a letter to the foreign ministers, he argued that China's "dynamic development cannot leave us indifferent,'' forcing the EU to craft an "all-encompassing and coherent approach'' toward Beijing.

On Thursday, the European Parliament entered the fray, joining the camp demanding the EU arms ban remain in place because of China's shaky human rights record.

In a nonbinding 431 to 85 vote, with 31 abstentions, the EU assembly meeting in Strasbourg, France, backed a motion by German Conservative Elmar Brok "not to lift the arms embargo.''

EU governments should "find ways to facilitate dialogue, defuse tension and encourage disarmament in cross-strait relations (with Taiwan),'' it said, and called for a binding EU code of conduct on arms sales.

The European Parliament called Taiwan "a model of democracy for the whole of China,'' and expressed regret that Europe's ties with Beijing were only progressing in terms of "trade and economic fields, without any substantial achievement as regards human rights and democracy issues.''

The parliament also expressed "deepest concern (at the) large number of missiles in southern China aimed across the Taiwan Straits'' and about the recently adopted anti-secession law empowering China to use force to rein in Taiwan.

France and Germany face a narrowing window of opportunity: unless the arms ban issue is resolved by June 30, little is expected to happen in the remainder of 2005 when pro-arms ban Britain holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Other topics on the ministers' agenda include the Middle East and conflicts in the Caucasus.

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