BRUSSELS, April 5: The United States gave the European Union a blunt warning on Tuesday against lifting a ban on selling arms to China, saying it should expect a reaction from Washington if it went ahead.
US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said the 25-member bloc sent “wrong messages” to Beijing even by giving consideration to such a move.
“We certainly don’t want people to be surprised if there’s a counter-reaction,” Zoellick told reporters.
“If there ever were a point where there were some conflict or danger, and European equipment helped kill American men and women in conflict, that would not be good for the relationship. It’s better to identify that now.”
The EU imposed the embargo in response to the forceful suppression of democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989; but several member states, led by France and Germany, want it lifted to help stimulate overall trade with China.
Washington has vigorously pressed the bloc to keep it in place, citing a potential threat to Taiwan if Beijing acquires hi-tech European weaponry.
Zoellick said some members of Congress would be sure to demand unspecified measures against the EU, especially since Beijing has adopted an anti-secession law granting itself the right to use force to head off any Taiwanese independence bid.
“As Europe becomes a larger player on a global stage we urge it to consider some of the messages that it sends,” he said.
“China has just passed an anti-secession law that most people thought was a counter-productive step. The question to us is, why would Europe want to send that symbolic message to China at this point?”
Zoellick was in Brussels after visiting 12 European countries already on this trip, and said he had picked up a sense that the bloc was moving to delay lifting the embargo.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said in an interview with the weekly Die Zeit he was more sceptical about lifting the ban than Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. He suggested Schroeder would have to alter his stance in order to forge a consensus within the EU and address the concerns of critics.
Zoellick said that while he understood the bloc’s wish to boost commercial ties with China, it had to consider security.
“I’m pleased that there’s a recognition this is not just our view, but there’s concerns about lifting the arms embargo in Japan and Australia and other countries in the Asia-Pacific.”
