Ban on arms sales to China must stay, says Taiwan envoy

By Peter Chapman

Date: 16/09/04

TAIWAN's de facto ambassador to the EU has issued a simple warning to the Union's leaders: don't mess with the embargo on arms sales to China.

France - with an eye on potential trade with the fastest growing major economy in the world - is leading calls for the Union to drop the China embargo.

But other member states are worried about upsetting the status quo in one of the world's powder kegs.

Speaking to European Voice, Chien-Jen Chen, head of Tapei's representative office in Brussels, said that getting rid of the embargo would help China develop a fighting force capable of overcoming its democratic neighbour across the Taiwan straits, fuelling instability in the Far East.

It would also reward China, even though it has failed to improve human rights significantly since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre - the event that prompted the EU to ban weapons sales, Chen warned.

"We are extremely concerned for two major reasons. The first is security because the peace in that area is very delicate.

"They [Chinese leaders] have been acquiring weapons from Russia - fighters, bombers and warships. And they have been manufacturing more advanced missiles - and they are all targeting Taiwan," he added. "Many estimate that, by 2012, the military balance will definitively tilt towards the PRC [People's Republic of China]. Some say even by 2007. That is not something that we would like to see. At present, peace and stability can be maintained because there is that balance.

"If that balance is going to be undermined it is not just the interests of Taiwan that will be affected. It will affect Japan, Korea, and the other south-east Asian countries. Australia, New Zealand and our European friends also have interests in that region too."

On human rights, Chen was critical of the Chinese record - even though the country has opened-up economically over the past 15 years.

"Have they improved? No. The EU, UK, France, Germany and the US have issued reports all saying that human rights improvements are very limited.

"In the circumstances, it would be very difficult to think that the embargo could be lifted - for the simple reason that its raison d'être is still there."

Supporters of lifting the embargo argue that the move could be accompanied by a tougher EU code of conduct governing weapons sales.

Chen said Taiwan would welcome toughening the 1998 code, intended to prevent weapons from fuelling regional tensions or human rights abuses.

But any changes should not be at the expense of the embargo, said Chen adding that the code of conduct was "useful but not binding".

Wang Shaoxin, EU spokesman for China, dismissed Chen's comments as "propaganda to attract attention" and insisted his government is "against any remarks from a region of China".

China has viewed Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be returned to the fold, by force if necessary, since the split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. The island is campaigning for recognition in global bodies such as the World Health Organization and United Nations. Most countries operate a so-called one China policy and refuse to recognise it as a state.

Tensions have been simmering since the re-election of the independence- leaning Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian in March, as Beijing is convinced Chen could push for formal statehood before his second term ends in 2008.

An aide to External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said the Commission was "trying to get a compromise" on the arms embargo - although he said many member states had yet to decide whether they support France's bid to open weapons sales.

The issue will be on the agenda at the EU-China summit in early December.

Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the EU has issued a warning to the Union's leaders not to touch the embargo on arms sales to China.