Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU to keep China arms embargo despite massive investments

  • Tiananmen Square today. Chinese tanks drove over peaceful demonstrators in the plaza in 1989 in a crackdown said to have cost over 7,000 lives (Photo: CuriousGeoff)

Catherine Ashton has failed to persuade the UK and other Beijing-critical member states to lift the EU arms embargo on China. But China is continuing to build influence in the Union with bond purchases from vulnerable countries.

"There remains a broad consensus within the EU that the time is not right to lift the arms embargo. We need to see clear progress on the issues that necessitated the embargo in the first place, namely on civil liberties and political rights," a British diplomat told EUobserver on Tuesday (4 January) in response to speculation on a potential shift in EU policy, which would require agreement by all 27 EU members.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

A diplomat from a former Communist EU country added: "There is simply no talk of it in the run-up to the EU foreign ministers' meeting [on 31 January]. After the Nobel Peace Prize and China's reaction to that, it is politically unimaginable to make any move for the time being."

Leaving aside the moral dimension, any change on the embargo could also harm EU-US relations.

Asked by EUobserver on Tuesday if the US is reconsidering its position on China arms sales, the State Department pointed to comments made by a senior US diplomat, John Hillen, in 2005 as still being relevant. Mr Hillen at the time said that lifting the embargo would "raise a major obstacle to future US defence co-operation with Europe."

The EU imposed the ban in 1989 in response to China's killings of thousands of dissidents during protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

France and Spain have recently argued that the arms ban is out of date due to China's economic metamorphosis and de facto changes in EU-China trade relations.

The EU's foreign relations chief, British politician Catherine Ashton, aligned herself with anti-embargo countries in a strategy paper on China delivered to EU leaders in December. The paper said the embargo is "a major impediment" to better relations and that the Union should elaborate "a way forward."

Her appeal came despite China's aggressive diplomacy on the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize award to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

China at the time urged EU embassies in Oslo to boycott the Nobel gala or face unspecified "consequences." Chinese President Hu Jintao had the same month visited Lisbon and promised to support its ailing economy, while Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao had in in Athens in October promised to buy junk Greek bonds.

In the end Greece and Portugal both sent ambassadors to the Nobel event. But China has begun the new year with a fresh EU diplomatic offensive targeting Germany, Spain and the UK.

Chinese deputy prime minister Li Keqiang arrived in Madrid on Tuesday and will go to Berlin and London later in the week.

The Chinese ambassador to Spain, Zhu Bangzao, told Spanish daily El Pais on Tuesday that Beijing will buy more Spanish bonds, saying: "During these times of crisis, China feels it is a requirement to support Spain and the EU ... We are not coming empty handed." China's ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, wrote in a comment for British daily The Telegraph the same day: "[We] will take concrete action to help some EU members to address their sovereign debt problem ... China is doing what a Chinese proverb says about 'sending charcoal in snowy weather'."

With a sovereign debt crisis in Spain threatening the future of the eurozone, the EU-China game is being played out for the highest possible stakes.

An EU diplomatic source noted that this week's trip by Mr Li is designed to help bring state-of-the-art aviation technology to China rather than military technology strictly speaking. "The Chinese have stopped pressing on the arms embargo at every possible opportunity and are focusing their efforts more on high-tech exports for now," the contact explained.

US and EU breaking taboos to restrain Israel

The US abstained and all EU states on the UN Security Council backed a call for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as Europe prepares to also blacklist extremist Israeli settlers.

EU warns Russia over Moscow terror attacks

Europe has warned Russia not to use the weekend's terror attacks in Moscow as a pretext to escalate its war in Ukraine and crackdown on internal dissent.

EU summit risks failing Gaza once again, Ireland warns

Austrians and Czechs might block an EU statement calling for an Israeli ceasefire, Ireland warned, as leaders met in Brussels amid starvation in Gaza. Israel's conduct of the war meant it had "squandered the support they had", Leo Varadkar said.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us