A French bid to lift the EU's arms embargo on China by April 1 was rebuffed by the bloc's foreign ministers on Monday due to concerns about the country's human rights record.
The ministers agreed only to reconsider the ban -- imposed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square -- at a future meeting.
The EU enjoyed a trade surplus with China at the beginning of the 1980s, but it now has a large and widening deficit which stood at around 47 billion euros (US$59.15 billion) in 2002.
Ending the arms embargo could open up lucrative trade opportunities with the world's fastest-growing major economy.
France's push, which coincided with a visit to Paris by Chinese President Hu Jintao (
"Do European governments want to risk having blood on their hands by allowing European weapons to be used against civilians in any future crackdown?" Graham Watson said in a statement.
"A desire to curry favor with the Chinese president during his state visit to France is no excuse for rethinking a long-standing European policy rooted in principle," he said.
France argues that the ban is "anachronistic" given the improved relations between Beijing and the EU and sits oddly with weapons embargoes imposed by the bloc on only three other nations -- Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
"China is now a special partner ... playing a key and responsible role in the international system," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters before going into talks on the sensitive issue with his EU counterparts.
"We should encourage it in this direction to contribute to international stability and security, especially in Asia," he said.
But he won no support in the meeting for France's aim to lift the embargo at an EU summit at the end of March.
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
RSS