European leaders yesterday signaled that they were in no rush to lift an arms embargo on China and could tie it to improvements in human rights, amid criticism that the move would destabilize East Asia.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
But European leaders meeting with him said it was uncertain the embargo would be lifted as China had hoped under Luxembourg's presidency of the 25-nation bloc, which ends on June 30.
"We have still more than one month and a half. I don't know if we can lift or we are not able to lift," Luxembourgian Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told reporters after talks with Li.
Speaking later after talks with his Japanese counterpart, Nobutaka Machimura, who reiterated Tokyo's opposition to ending the ban, Asselborn said a decision could come when emotions "are not so strong."
"We do not want to offend our friends in the region or to destabilize any region in the world," he said.
He said the EU could draft "an advanced code of conducts" in exchange for resuming weapons sales.
"People have to know that lifting the embargo does not mean it will be replaced by nothing," Asselborn said.
"Human rights can be included in the code of conduct," he said.
Asselborn acknowledged, however, that China's passage of a law last month authorizing military force to stop Taiwan from pursuing independence "was not very helpful."
China has lobbied for the embargo to be lifted before the rotating EU presidency shifts in July to Britain, which is seen as less enthusiastic about the idea.
Margherita Boniver, Italy's minister of state for foreign affairs, said no dates were mentioned during her meeting with Li.
"Dates were not discussed. They didn't mention any dates," she said. "I don't think there's a set date for that at all."
France has been the prime supporter of lifting the ban, saying the move would be primarily symbolic and recognize China's growing global clout.
The US is not part of the Asia-Europe Meeting, which was founded in 1996 as a way to increase dialogue between the regions away from Washington's strong influence.
The meeting came as North Korea defies the world by refusing to rejoin dialogue aimed at convincing Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons drive, and South Korea asked for China to play a "more proactive role."
The Kyoto meeting will also provide a chance for China and South Korea to hold talks with Japan on deteriorating relations.
China and South Korea, which suffered brutal occupations by Japan up to 1945, accuse Tokyo of whitewashing its World War II atrocities through the approval last month of a nationalist textbook.
Beijing is opposed to Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and Li said he discussed UN reform with his European and South Korean counterparts.
On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, on a visit to Luxembourg, warned that lifting the weapons ban could jeopardize stability in East Asia.
The EU has so far not reached a consensus on the issue due to opposition from members including Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden, who want Beijing to improve human rights and peacefully resolve its conflict with Taiwan.
Also see stories:
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS