US pressures EU on China arms ban

China’s human rights record does not warrant the lifting of a 15 year old EU arms embargo, said a senior US official.

Gregory Suchan, US Deputy assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told a panel discussion in Brussels that removing the EU arms embargo on China would inevitably result in an increase in arms exports.

The EU’s general code of conduct on arms sales has been heavily criticised as not being strong enough to prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands.

“I’m very sceptical that the code of conduct on arms exports is reliable as an adequate substitute to an EU arms embargo,” said Suchan, at the discussion organised by the Centre for European Policy studies.

“If the embargo was lifted then we would see an increase in EU arms exports to China.”

The US which has its own ban on arms sales to China, is concerned that easing the embargo could risk regional stability in the far east and would send Beijing a signal that human rights are unimportant.

“Lifting the EU embargo would send the wrong signal to China and to the victims of Chinese human rights abuses,” added Amnesty Internationals’ Dick Oosting.

Several countries including France and Germany are keen to end the embargo, imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing.

French president, Jacques Chirac has repeatedly called for an end to the ban.

Chirac, who is due to visit China on Friday recently referred to the Tiananmen Square massacre as “another time.”

“We will try to get the EU to lift as soon as possible an embargo which is of another time and which does not correspond any more to the reality of the situation,” Chirac said in an interview with China’s state news agency.

China is expected to lobby EU diplomats for an end to the embargo at this weekend’s ASEM summit in Vietnam.

But the US is expected to maintain pressure on Europe’s leaders to keep the ban, and has hinted at possible economic retaliatory action against EU businesses that become involved in supplying arms to China.

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