Here is a classical example of the complexities one has to face when part of a Union. Germany and France are dying to sell their weapons to China military, which is spending billions of dollars modernizing its arsenal, with much of the business now going to Russia. But other EU governments are not ready to do so saying Beijing has not done enough to improve its human rights record.
Germany Seeks to End EU’s China Arms Ban
By JOE McDONALD
Associated Press Writer
December 6, 2004, 1:30 PM EST
BEIJING – German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday called for an end to a 15-year-old European arms embargo on China imposed after the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, as the two countries signed contracts worth $2.1 billion for Airbus jets and other industrial goods.
On his sixth trip to China, Schroeder received a warm welcome from Premier Wen Jiabao, who called the visit “another family meeting” at the start of talks in the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China’s legislature in central Beijing.
At a news conference later, Schroeder noted his past calls for an end to the European Union’s 15-year-old ban on weapons sales to China, and said, “My opinion hasn’t changed.”
Wen called the ban an outdated “result of the Cold War” and said he hoped for a decision on it at a European Union summit on Dec. 17, though he didn’t say whether he expected the ban to be lifted.
Wen is expected to lobby European leaders this week at an EU-China conference in the Netherlands. Beijing says a failure to lift the arms embargo could harm diplomatic relations.
Germany and France are eager to do business with China’s military, which is spending billions of dollars modernizing its arsenal, with much of the business now going to Russia. But other EU governments say Beijing has failed to do enough to improve its human rights record.
Schroeder has also been criticized by members of his Social Democrat and Green party coalition for backing a lifting of the arms ban.
Meanwhile, a $1.3 billion deal signed Monday calls for a state company that buys aircraft for China’s airlines to purchase Airbus A319, A320 and A321 jets, according to German officials.
Germany’s DaimlerChrysler AG is a major shareholder in the European consortium that owns Airbus SAS.
China also signed contracts with German industrial giant Siemens AG to purchase railway locomotives worth $480 million and power-generation equipment for $280 million, according to Schroeder’s delegation.
Also Monday, the German leader attended the laying of a cornerstone for a new Beijing factory built by DaimlerChrysler and a Chinese joint-venture partner.
China says Germany has been its biggest European trading partner for three decades. In the first 10 months of this year, their trade totaled $43.6 billion, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing figures from the Ministry of Commerce.
Schroeder was to meet President Hu Jintao on Tuesday before visiting the northeastern city of Changchun. He travels Wednesday to Japan, where he and Japanese leaders are expected to discuss the campaign by both of their governments to obtain seats on the United Nations Security Council.
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Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press