US President George W. Bush voiced "deep concern" on Tuesday at European plans to lift a 15-year arms embargo on China, as it emerged the EU is drafting a plan to try to allay Washington's fears.
"There is deep concern in our country that a transfer of weapons would be a transfer of technology to China which would change the balance of relations in between China and Taiwan," Bush said.
Talks on the issue in Brussels with European leaders had been "constructive and open," he said, but signalled Washington might take punitive steps against the EU if it ends the ban.
Although he said he was open to EU efforts to draw up a plan to make lifting the 15-year-old embargo more palatable to Washington, he added skeptically: "Whether they can or not, we'll see."
The EU imposed the ban on military hardware exports after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.
But now the EU wants to lift the embargo with an eye firmly on the booming Chinese economy.
In December, at an EU-China summit in The Hague, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) urged the scrapping of the embargo, calling it a relic of the Cold War.
EU leaders had indicated that the arms embargo was likely to be lifted under the bloc's current Luxembourg president, which ends in June.
But the US says this will give China access to high-tech military know-how and firepower that would threaten Taiwan.
A US Congress resolution passed earlier this month warned that lifting the ban would "place EU security policy in direct conflict with United States security interests and with the security interests of United States' friends and allies in the Asia and Pacific region."
It warned of "limitations and constraints" on government and industrial relations between the US and Europe if the ban is lifted.
French President Jacques Chirac said the ban "is no longer justified" but that it should be lifted "under conditions that Europe and the US define together."
The EU should avoid disagreement with the US over lifting the arms embargo against China while Europe is attempting a raproaochment with the US, Graham Watson, Chairman of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament, was quoted by the Central News Agency (CNA) as saying.
A senior diplomat in Paris told CNA he expected the embargo against China to remain in place in "for a while" as a result of Bush's visit and his expressed concern.
Also see story:
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
RSS