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108th
Congress
H CON. RES. 512
Expressing the sense of Congress
regarding the European Union's plans to lift the embargo on arms
sales to the People's Republic of China.
Whereas leaders of the European Union and the People's Republic of
China will meet in December 2004 in the Hague, the Netherlands, to
discuss lifting the European Union's embargo on arms sales to the
People's Republic of China;
Whereas the European Union initiated a ban on arms sales to the
People's Republic of China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre
Whereas the ban has remained in force due to China's continued
violation of human rights;
Whereas the ban displays the European Union's ongoing
dissatisfaction with the pace of political reform in China and the
continued repression of dissent by China's authoritarian government;
Whereas 14 years after the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in
Tiananmen Square, many protesters still remain in prison and have
not received a fair trial;
Whereas according to the annual human rights reports of the United
States State Department of State and various international human
rights organizations, the Government of the People's Republic of
China continues to commit human rights abuse against its own people;
Whereas lifting the European Union embargo on arms sales to the
People's Republic of China will result in the increased procurement
of arms by the People's Republic China;
Whereas the United States shares defense technology with the
European Union in order to enhance the interoperability between the
two military powers;
Whereas lifting the embargo will render it impossible to guarantee
that the military technology that the United States shares with
Europe will not be passed on to the People's Republic of China;
Whereas the Taiwan Strait is one of the flashpoints in the world and
a conflict in the region will involve United States forces;
Whereas the military balance between Taiwan and the People’s
Republic of China continues to shift in favor of the People's
Republic of China, as documented in recent reports from the Pentagon
and in the June 2004 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security
Review Commission; Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That it is the sense of Congress that
–
(1)
the President should seek a commitment from the leaders of the
European Union that the European Union will not lift its embargo on
arms sales to the People's Republic of China; and
(2) the 2005 annual report by the Department of Defense on the
military power of People's Republic of China required by section
1202 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000
(10 U.S.C. 113 note) should include –
(A)
an analysis of the effect on the United
States interests in the Asia-Pacific region if the European Union
lifts of its embargo on arms sales to the People's Republic of
China; and
(B)
a review
of the steps taken by the United States to address such action by
the European Union |
