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International Herald Tribune
Saturday, October 30, 2004
"Arming China"
The editorial "Courting China" (Oct. 19) highlights President
Jacques
Chirac's effort to lift the longstanding European Union arms embargo
against China.
The French president seems to forget that the ban on exporting arms
to
China was instituted in response to international outrage over the
1989
massacre of unarmed students and civilians in Tiananmen Square.
Fifteen years later, Chirac intends to supply the same army with
highly
advanced weaponry in direct contradiction to stated EU principles of
respect for human rights and democracy.
Besides domestic repression, another function of the Chinese
government
is to intimidate Taiwan. If the EU repeals its embargo, it will also
enhance the formidable threat Beijing already poses to Taiwan.
A European Union that exports arms to China would find itself in
opposition to the United States, which supplies defensive weaponry
to Taiwan.
Lifting the embargo would add strain to the already battered
trans-Atlantic alliance.
The European Union must now define itself politically as either a
continued force for the advancement of human rights and preservation
of
stability, or as merely a trading association that seeks profit at
every
opportunity, without regard to human cost.
Ming-chi Wu, Washington
President, Formosan Association for
Public Affairs
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