The Wrong Signal

The Wrong Signal

Rep. Boozman's Column for the Week of April 4, 2005

Washington, Apr 4 - Intense pressure from President Bush and Member of Congress may have persuaded the European Union (EU) to shelve plans to lift its arms embargo on China. This news largely flew under the radar, yet this embargo is imperative to our national security and the protection of the people of Taiwan, not to mention our troops stationed in Asia.

China has been building up their military and weapons systems for years. A lifting of the ban would result in an increased focus on weapons procurement, which is already a top priority for the Chinese government.

The embargo was imposed after China's infamous crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Their records on human rights and religious freedom have continued to deteriorate since that incident, while their posturing toward Taiwan has become increasingly threatening. Just last month, the Chinese National People's Congress adopted legislation authorizing the use of force to stop Taiwan from seceding.

It seems that China's latest move authorizing the use of force against Taiwan finally caught the attention of our European allies. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was quoted in the March 22, 2005 edition of The New York Times as saying that the problems of lifting the embargo "have actually gotten more difficult rather than less difficult" and that the Chinese action on Taiwan had created "a difficult political environment." The same article said that EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana has seen a shift in the EU's position stance on the embargo.

These are good signs. When I traveled to Brussels earlier this year for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) meetings, we pushed our European counterparts to leave this ban in place. The reality of the situation is that there are only a few countries that China would want to use these weapons against, and Taiwan and the U.S. are right there at the top of the list.

If the EU were to lift the embargo on arms sales to China, they would be sending the wrong signal to the world community. It would alter the balance of military forces in the region and undercut our efforts to get the Chinese government to improve its human rights record and grant religious freedom to the people of China. I will continue to work with my colleagues in the NATO PA to impart on our European friends how important this embargo is for international peace and the future of Trans-Atlantic relations.

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