British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose country holds the EU presidency in the second half of this year, said on Thursday that there is little chance of the EU lifting its ban on arms sales to China.
Straw said there was still considerable opposition in Europe, given China's human-rights record and tension between China and Taiwan.
"That is reflected in a series of resolutions in the European Parliament. So that is the difficulty at the moment," he told a group of journalists from across the EU.
The EU embargo was imposed after the Chinese military crushed student protests at Tiananmen Square in June 1989.
EU nations have been debating an end to the measure for several years and Straw's comment indicated the issue will not be settled soon.
Britain assumed the EU presidency yesterday. As such, it will set the EU agenda for the rest of the year and is unlikely to lobby for a lifting of the ban. Britain, along with the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, is most opposed to lifting the ban because of China's shaky human-rights record and Beijing's strident language in its dealing with Taiwan.
London is also wary of aggravating trans-Atlantic ties. The US has voiced concern about an end to the European arms ban, especially after China adopted the "Anti-Secession" Law recently authorizing military action against Taiwan.
Washington fears sales of high-tech arms to China's rapidly modernizing People's Liberation Army, the world's largest military by troop numbers, could increase its abilities to threaten US allies in Asia, including Japan and Taiwan, as well as its nearly 230,000 troops in the region.
Responding to such concerns, the EU is beefing up a code of conduct to govern eventual arms sales to China by the bloc's 25 member states.
"My guess is that there is still no consensus" to end the ban, Straw said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS