The European Parliament yesterday upheld a ban on arms sales to China, citing Beijing's threats against Taiwan as one of the key justifications for keeping the restrictions.
The parliament, which traditionally takes a strong line on human rights, said it believed "it is the wrong time, in view of the Chinese threats against Taiwan, to open the way to a lifting of the European arms embargo."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed its welcome for the European Parliament's demand that the EU maintain its arms embargo against China on the grounds of China's poor human rights record.
"It is the fourth time that the European Parliament passed a resolution that rejected proposals to lift the embargo against China. We call on all EU member states to acknowledge the strong desire of the 450 million European people," the MOFA's press release stated.
On Thursday, the assembly voted to continue the embargo, which was initiated by the EU after the Tianamen Square Massacre in 1989. Ninety-nine members opposed for lifting the ban, 2 voted for opening arms sale, and 7 abstained from voting.
Parliamentary deputies across the political spectrum voiced opposition to lifting the embargo in view of Beijing's human rights abuses in Tibet.
Article V of the resolution called on the EU Council of Ministers and the 25 member states "to maintain the European Union embargo on trade in arms with the People's Republic of China and not weaken national restrictions on such arms sales."
The parliament also stressed that the embargo should continue until the EU had adopted a code of conduct providing legal restraints on arms exports, and until China took "concrete measures to improve its human rights situation."
The MOFA responded to the move by saying the resolution "does conform with the good momentum in the development of the EU's refusal to lift the ban since 2003."
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS