China demanded yesterday that the EU lift a 15-year-old embargo on weapons sales to Beijing, criticizing it as a Cold War relic after the latest French attempt to end the ban failed.
EU foreign ministers meeting Monday said they needed more time to reach consensus on whether to end the ban, imposed after Chinese troops crushed the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.
"We believe it's a result of the Cold War. The decision was 15 years ago," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue (章啟月) at a news briefing.
"It's not in line with the present situation in relations between China and the European Union," Zhang said. "We believe the arms embargo is totally unreasonable. We want it lifted."
The government of French President Jacques Chirac has fought to end the ban. Visiting Beijing last week, Chirac criticized it as outdated and motivated by "hostility toward China."
But Sweden and other EU governments want to maintain the ban, and even tighten it.
The US has pressed the EU to maintain the embargo and has threatened to curtail transfers of some sensitive military technology to European countries if it were dropped.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the international community yesterday to pay more attention to China's ever-growing military strength which the ministry said poses a serious threat to Taiwan Strait and Asia-Pacific security.
The ministry made the appeal amid reports that EU foreign ministers had failed to agree Monday on lifting the bloc's 15-year-old arms embargo against China despite strong French lobbying.
Speaking at a regular ministry news conference, deputy spokeswoman Anna Kao (
The EU foreign ministers only held informal discussions during a lunch meeting Monday, Kao said.
Maysing Yang (
For instance, Yang said, foreign wire services had reported a series of demonstrations staged by local activists outside major EU countries' representative offices in Taipei.
Also See Stories:
China and France want to make HK an arts hub
Chirac seals the deal for French firms
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
Air and rail traffic around Taiwan were disrupted today while power cuts occurred across the country as Typhoon Kong-rey, predicted to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon, continued edging closer to the country. A total of 241 passenger and cargo flights departing from or arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were canceled today due to the typhoon, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. As of 9:30am, 109 inbound flights, 103 outbound flights and 29 cargo flights had been canceled, the company said. Taiwan Railway Corp also canceled all express trains on its Western Trunk Line, Eastern Trunk Line, South-Link Line and attached branches
Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon and would move out to sea sometime overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 9am today, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north. The storm's center was 110km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving northwest at 28kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184kph, and gusts of up to 227kph, the CWA said. At a news conference this morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between
RSS