06-12-2004, 02:52 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Administrator
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Long Ashton, Bristol
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Paris stalls end to EU arms ban on Beijing
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d8dd77ac-46...00e2511c8.html
Quote:
France is resisting moves to reveal more about arms sales to China as the price of lifting the European Union's arms embargo on the country, putting Paris at odds with the rest of the EU.
President Jacques Chirac has championed lifting the ban imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre which the EU believes implies a near-pariah status China no longer deserves.
In spite of opposition from the US, many EU states want to ensure that lifting the embargo is largely symbolic by simultaneously increasing transparency on arms sales to Beijing. But Paris is resisting more openness.
The embargo is expected to be high on the agenda at the EU-China summit on Wednesday. While there is no prospect of it being lifted this week, the EU wants to signal to China that it will be removed soon perhaps in the first half of next year.
“The arms embargo is the EU's problem, not China's” said a European diplomat. “Most countries want tighter controls as a condition of lifting the embargo but France is an obstacle.”
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