Straw says rift over China arms must be managed
By Lisbeth Kirk
UK foreign secretary Jack Straw has admitted that ending the arms embargo on China could stir tensions between the EU and the US but said these should be managed.
"The challenge in terms of foreign policy is not to eliminate differences or franchise out policy but to manage those differences", Mr Straw said in an interview with the Financial Times.
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Despite US opposition, the UK foreign secretary backed the EU lifting of the arms embargo because it would be linked with a new code of conduct.
"The presentational problem we have in Washington is that people read the headline 'They've lifted the embargo' and it then takes time to explain that the embargo has very limited application", Mr Straw said in the interview.
EU doubles arms sales to China
The current EU embargo is not legally binding and also appears not to be very effective.
This was illustrated by the EU's annual report on arms exports showing that the EU almost doubled its approvals for arms sales to China between 2002 and 2003, totalling €416m in 2003 against €210m for 2002.
In 2003, France granted €171m licences for arms sales to China, Italy €127m and the UK €112m, according to information in the EU's Official Journal last month, quoted by the Financial Times.
US opposed
The EU’s ban on arms sales to China was brought into place after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire on unarmed democracy campaigners and civilians.
There is broad agreement among EU members for lifting the embargo, but concerns over human rights and US opposition are delaying the move.
The US is keen not to see hi-tech European weapons in Chinese hands, although Chinese officials say that lifting the embargo is of political rather than military significance.
The Chinese government defended this week the 15-year-old decision to stop the demonstrations in the Tiananmen Square and also turned down appeals to rehabilitate the former general secretary of China's Communist Party Zhao Ziyang.
Zhao Ziyang refused to endorse the crackdown. He died this week at age 85, having spent the last 15 years of his life under house arrest.
"The political disturbance and the problem of Zhao himself has already passed. What happened in 1989 has reached its conclusion", Kong Quan, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a regular briefing quoted by the Washington Post.
Pointing to the rapid growth of the Chinese economy since the Tiananmen massacre, he added: "The past 15 years have shown China's decision was correct".
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported on sanctions imposed by the US on eight of China's largest companies suspected of aiding Iran's efforts to improve its ballistic missiles. China has, however, said that the move was not backed by evidence.
"The Chinese government stands opposed to any spread of weapons of mass destruction", the Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a news briefing, according to Reuters.