Bush Reiterates Opposition to EU On Arms to China
President Bush warned European nations that their plan to end a 15-year-old ban on arms sales to China "could change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan" and suggested it might prompt Congress to consider restrictions on trade with Europe.
Mr. Bush said that although he has been assured "to a man" by the Europeans that lifting the arms embargo won't upset the strategic balance in Asia, Congress likely will need further persuading.
French President Jacques Chirac told reporters yesterday that the "arms embargo is no longer justified and has to be lifted."
Mr. Chirac said the move "wouldn't modify the strategic equilibrium" of Asia. A spokeswoman for the European Union's foreign-policy chief, Javier Solana, said Mr. Bush's comments confirmed that their battle on China would be with the U.S. Congress, not the Bush administration. "The administration knows that they cannot stop it -- we've said we are going to lift the embargo," said the spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach .
Separately, on the second day of his European fence-mending tour, Mr. Bush got a pledge from all of the other 25 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to provide assistance to Iraqis. The last country to offer assistance, administration officials said, was France, an unswerving war opponent, which agreed to contribute a single military officer to assist in the NATO effort. The modest contributions didn't seem to faze Mr. Bush, who pronounced himself grateful for the assistance. "Every contribution matters," Mr. Bush said. "Twenty-six nations sitting around that table said it's important for NATO to be involved in Iraq. That's a strong statement."
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The EU imposed an embargo in 1989 after China's violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests, and EU leaders say they are almost certain to lift it later this year. Mr. Bush said European countries "need to make sure that if they do so, that they sell it to the U.S. Congress. ... Congress will be making the decisions ... as to how to react to what will be perceived by some, perhaps, as a technology transfer to China."
The EU plans to send technical experts to Congress to explain why it believes the organization's new code of conduct would be at least as restrictive on arms sales to China as the embargo.
Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution, by a vote of 411-3, that criticized an increase in arms sales by European nations to China and said lifting the embargo would "place European security policy in direct conflict with United States security interests."
The EU embargo is interpreted by governments in different ways. European arms sales to China have been rising sharply in recent years. The total value of licenses granted by EU governments for military exports to China rose to �428 million ($559 million) in 2003 from about �62 million in 2001. European governments say these are low-tech goods that wouldn't alter the military balance between China and Taiwan, although they make public few details on the nature of the goods sold. France has led the drive to lift the EU arms embargo on China, and it is backed by U.S. allies such as Britain. United Kingdom officials believe the embargo is getting in the way of an increasingly important export market.
In Washington, John Howard, vice president for international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said, "I would want to see exactly what the EU does before we comment on any possible reaction." He declined to comment on whether member companies might be concerned about sanctions, but added, "Sanctions have to be multilateral in order to work properly. ... If the goal is to isolate a country with sanctions, one had better make sure they're adhered to by all."
Defense companies who are among America's close European allies, including BAE Systems PLC in the U.K., could lose most from U.S. legislation to clamp down on technology transfers. A spokesman for BAE Systems said the company was "concerned" about the effect that lifting the China embargo could have in the U.S. Already, Congress has blocked an administration proposal to waive licensing requirements for exports to Britain, in part due to concerns that Britain might allow the know-how to be sold on to countries the U.S. wouldn't sell to itself.
布什重申反对欧盟解除对华武器禁运的立场
美国总统布什(Bush)再次重申了反对欧盟解除长达15年的对华武器禁运的立场，暗示美国国会(Congress)随后可能限制对欧洲的技术出口。
布什是在访欧的第二天发表上述言论的。
欧盟外交政策负责人Javier Solana的发言人Cristina Gallach表示，布什的言论证实这一问题的阻力主要来自美国国会，而不是布什政府。因为布什政府明白他们无法阻止欧盟解除对华武器禁运。
