European arms to China: Think again, says Rice
China’s new law authorising military force against Taiwan could make Europe think twice about selling new weaponry to the Chinese, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said.
Rice, in Asia for talks this week, also said yesterday that she will not let North Korea play the US and its allies against each other in an attempt to hang onto its nuclear weapons program.
She has a long agenda in Beijing later this week, a visit made more delicate by China’s decision to codify a threat to attack Taiwan if the island declares independence. The Bush administration criticised the move, and Rice said she will discuss it with Chinese leaders.
Rice said the law may make European nations reconsider resuming weapons sales that were suspended after the deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square.
So far, the US has been unable to persuade the European Union to continue the embargo, despite a major diplomatic offensive from Rice.
The Bush administration says that more and better weaponry for China would upset the region’s security balance, and could mean the US might face improved Chinese firepower if forced to defend Taiwan from a mainland attack.
“The Europeans … know very well our views on the arms embargo, that this is not a time to end the arms embargo,” Rice told reporters en route to India, first stop on her one-week trip. “I would hope it would at least remind the Europeans that there are still serious security issues in this region.”
Taiwan and China split in 1949, but Beijing considers the democratic, self-ruled island to be Chinese territory. Beijing has threatened repeatedly to attack if Taiwan tries to make its de facto independence permanent.
China insisted yesterday that its new law is meant to promote peaceful unification, but Rice said, “It’s our responsibility to say to both the parties that unilateral moves that increase tensions are really not helpful.”
Any outbreak of hostilities could ensnare the US, which is Taiwan’s biggest arms supplier and is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself.
There are 50,000 US troops in Japan and 35,000 in South Korea. Under Washington’s one-China policy, the US has no diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognises Beijing as China’s sole government.
