Former representative to the US Chen Chien-jen (
The EU actually vetoed the cancelation of the arms ban by a vote of 14 to 1 last December. However, backed by France, China is likely to win the gradual support of Germany, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands. This year, Beijing has decided to stage a comeback, and to aggressively strive for the support of EU member states.
We must keep an eye on the Dutch presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of this year, and developments once Portugal's former prime minister Jose Manuel Barroso officially begins his five-year term as the president of the European Commission in November. In fact, the Dutch presidency already announced the inclusion in its priority agenda of new discussions on whether to withdraw the weapons ban on China.
In Europe, China has manipulated this issue for years and has won increased support. In Asia, Beijing also canceled its planned military exercises on Dongshan Island this month, adopting a tactic of expressing superficial goodwill to win greater European support. The withdrawal was certainly not an isolated incident in Asia. Rather, it was a part of China's global positioning as it continues to strengthen its military capacity.
But China's recent oppression of Taiwan shows Beijing's true colors. During this year's annual World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva from May 17 to 21, China continued to treat Taiwan as an enemy. It even strengthened efforts to block our participation in international affairs, and to prevent the Taiwanese people from obtaining the most basic right to health care.
Therefore, we should pay close attention to the other motives behind Beijing's cancelation of military drills -- especially its ultimate strategic goal of lobbying EU member states to lift the ban. If China is able to easily acquire advanced military technologies from Europe, peace and stability in east Asia will be severely damaged.
At present, China is the aggressor in the military confrontation across the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan is the one being threatened. Amid the continued domestic power struggles between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, we often forget that a powerful and authoritarian China is ready to annex Taiwan by force at any time. Taiwan called off the annual Han Kuang military exercise to lower regional tensions out of goodwill. But both President Chen Shui-bian (
Moreover, we must remind our friends in the EU that the reason for the ban -- to protest Beijing's crackdown on democracy and human rights during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre -- has not disappeared. Not to mention that the Chinese government is notorious for oppressing the Falun Gong religion, restricting democracy and freedom in Hong Kong and cracking down on Chinese dissidents.
French President Jacques Chirac will visit China next month and the EU will begin its various working meetings this month. I hereby urge the Taiwanese government and people to pay close attention to these related issues, as well as to the possible damage to Taiwan. Above all, we must mobilize our European friends to oppose the removal of the EU's arms embargo on China.
Wu Chih-chung is the secretary-general of the European Union Study Association-Taiwan, and an assistant professor in the department of political science at Soochow University.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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