EU arms embargo on China

arcadegame2004

Recently, there has been much talk in EU - especially French circles - of lifting the ban on arms sales to China that was imposed following the 1989 Tianeman Square massacre, in which at least 3,500 pro-democracy demonstrators are thought to have been gunned down by the Peoples' Liberation Army (ironic name or what). (The US has also had an arms embargo on China since 1989)

European leaders on Friday urged a reassessment of an EU arms embargo against China imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989...In summit conclusions, EU heads of government invited their foreign ministers "to reexamine the question of the embargo on the sale of arms to China".

The statement was based on a request by French President Jacques Chirac, said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was chairing the talks.

Berlusconi cited China's "sincere will" to make progress in the area of political rights as it expands economically as having impressed EU leaders.......German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said at the summit that the vote on the declaration had been unanimous.

"No one at the table raised objections," he told reporters. ......The embargo was imposed after China's communist authorities sent in army tanks to crush a pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing in June 1989, leaving hundreds dead

I'd like to know what evidence Berlusconi has of China's "sincere will" to address the human-rights issue. I rather suspect that this has more to do with EU government continuing their disgraceful policy of surrendering to China on human-rights in order to expand the trade-interests of their business friends who donate large sums to their nations' political parties and clearly expect 'something in return'.

I personally strongly oppose lifting the ban for a number of reasons:

A: The human-rights situation in China has actually deteriorated, not improved. Observe the following evidence:



"AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Public Statement

AI Index: ASA 17/014/2004 (Public)
News Service No: 074
1 April 2004

China: Detention of Tiananmen Mothers
Amnesty International condemns the detention of three "Tiananmen Mothers" Ding Zilin, Zhang Xianling and Huang Jinping on 28 March and calls for their immediate and unconditional release. The "Tiananmen Mothers" have for years peacefully campaigned on behalf of their children and other relatives killed almost 15 years ago when troops violently broke up the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. The teenage sons of Ding Zilin and Zhang Xinliang, and Huang Jinpin's husband were killed. Hundreds of other protestors were also killed.

The three were arbitrarily detained in an apparent attempt to stop them or warn them against commemorating the 15th anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy protests."

"For Immediate Release: Contact: AIUSA Press Office
March 21, 2004 202/544-0200x30215,000 People a Year Executed or Killed by Chinese Authorities,
Says Estimate Cited in New Amnesty International Report on China's Death Penalty
Egregious Killing Underscores Need for US-sponsored Resolution at
United Nations Commission on Human Rights

(Washington, DC) – An Amnesty International report released today includes new estimates on the use of China's death penalty, including one figure based on internal Chinese Communist Party documents that indicates an average of 15,000 people per year were executed, judicially or extrajudicially, by the government between 1997 and 2001, or one in every 86,000 Chinese residents.* The report, Executed "According to Law?", examines how China's grotesquely inadequate justice system executes more citizens than the rest of the world combined. The organization believes that given the potential for miscarriages of justice revealed by the report, a moratorium on the death penalty in China is urgently required.............According to the report, prisoners are denied immediate legal representation and often sentenced to death based on confessions extracted under extreme forms of torture. An almost "perfect" conviction rate (99.1 percent for all crimes within a recent five-year period) illustrates enormous potential for executing the innocent. Furthermore, in 1997 China expanded the legal scope of the death penalty, applying it to broader sets of circumstances. Sixty-nine percent of capital crimes defined in China's criminal law are non-violent.

"For non-violent crimes that range from pimping to panda killing, China's scythe does not discriminate," added Goering."


"People's Republic of China
Controls tighten as Internet activism grows
"...Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print [...] or through any other media of his choice."


Article 19 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Signed (but not yet ratified) by China: October1998
Introduction


This document updates Amnesty International's first major reports on the Internet in China, People's Republic of China: State Control of the Internet in China, ASA 17/007/2002 and People's Republic of China: State Control of the Internet in China: Appeal Cases, ASA 17/046/2002, both published in November 2002.

Since then, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people detained or sentenced for Internet-related offences, an increase of 60 per cent in 2003 as compared to the previous year's figures......an unknown number of people remain in detention for disseminating information about the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) over the Internet.....Many have been denied due process and some have been tortured or ill-treated in custody.

Internet access has expanded considerably in China over the past year. According to official statistics, the number of Internet users had risen to 79.5 million by December 2003 from 59.1 million users in December 2002 - an increase of 34.5 per cent.(1) ......Amnesty International considers all those detained for such activities to be prisoners of conscience and reiterates its calls for their immediate and unconditional release....
As of 7 January 2004, Amnesty International had recorded the names of 54 peoplewho had been detained or imprisoned for disseminating their beliefs or information through the Internet- a 60 per cent increase as compared to figures recorded at the end of 2002.(3) In November 2002, Amnesty International documented 33 people who had been detained for Internet-related offences, including three Falun Gong practitioners who, according to Amnesty International's information at the time, had reportedly died in custody. (4) Prison sentences ranged from two to 12 years.
Those detained for downloading information from the Internet, expressing their opinions or circulating information on the Internet or by email include students, political dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners, workers, writers, lawyers, teachers, civil servants, former police officers, engineers, and businessmen.

Signing online petitions, calling for reform and an end to corruption, planning to set up a pro-democracy party, publishing 'rumours about SARS', communicating with groups abroad, opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong

Nuttzz

Great Idea, Give the larest country in the world with a population that is bursting at the seems and has the largest number of men under arms with a appauling human rights record more weapons, Iraq 1980's anyone?

Sand

Its gross stupidity to hand modern weaponry over to China - the only time theyre going to need it is in time of war, and to be honest it doesnt make sense to equip your enemy. Its probably just the EU arms industry lobbying as hard as they can to open up a new market. Cant blame them for trying but doesnt mean its the smart thing to do.

vorbis

I can only see bad things out of this. The world hardly needs China building itself into a military superpower. The arms industries must have a pretty good lobbying group in Italy.