FAPA - Important Issues

WASHINGTON TIMES
October 30, 2004
Letters to editor

On the EU, China and Taiwan

The letter from Chinese Embassy spokesman Sun Weide ("China and the arms embargo," Oct. 16) in support of the French-led attempt to repeal the
European Union arms embargo against China completely misrepresents why, when and how the embargo was instituted.

Mr. Sun, for instance, argues that the embargo dates from the Cold War. But it was adopted because of the human rights tragedy that took place
on Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989. It had nothing to do with the Cold War.

His claim that there are no grounds for linking the EU embargo to human rights is false as well. He argues that the extent to which China
adheres to human rights has never been higher. Still, Tiananmen demonstrators are in jail today, and advocacy of the cause they espoused remains a criminal offense.

The press counselor then states that the Chinese government follows peaceful foreign and defense policies. If this is the case, why does the
Communist government need to import arms? What pressing threat justifies China's interest in satellite technology that would facilitate that
nation's use of joint direct attack munitions -style guided bombs?

He then identifies Taiwan as the paramount danger to East Asian security. Is he serious? Is the stance that a small democratic country such as
Taiwan can threaten the second greatest power in the world really credible?

The legitimacy of the communist government is the only thing Taiwan can threaten. The Tiananmen massacre demonstrated that Beijing treats such
threats with the utmost brutality.

The European Union, therefore, would do irreparable harm to its own stated humanitarian principles and the standard of human rights around the 
world if it lifts the embargo. 

What it comes down to, is that the European Union must choose whether it wants to remain a force for the advancement of human rights and 
preservation of stability or merely become a trading association that seeks profit at every opportunity, without regard to human cost. 

MING-CHI WU 
President, Formosan Association 
for Public Affairs 
Washington

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