President George W. Bush, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else but here, speaks at a news conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels today. The U.S. is deeply concerned that the E.U. countries will lift the weapons ban on China that was imposed over China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The EU pledged at a summit with China in December to work toward lifting its embargo. Chirac has been the most determined EU leader to push for scrapping the embargo, but even Britain, Washington's closest EU ally, has backed ending the ban.
"There is deep concern in our country that the transfer of weapons would be a transfer of technology to China, which would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan," President Bush said at a news conference after the the 26-nation NATO summit.
Chinese leaders say they want the ban lifted because they view it as an unfair obstacle in relations, not because they want to go on an arms buying spree.
Of course not. Just look at how much progress China has made in human rights since the embargo. None. If anything, their human rights abuses have worsened.
Arming a country like China with advanced weapons technology is a bad idea on many levels. In typical consequences-be-damned fashion, the E.U. must be playing 'follow the money' because there is no logical reason to lift the ban.
Follow the money. Whom are the Chinese paying off and for how much?
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