The 25-nation EU is abandoning, for now, a plan to lift its 15-year-old embargo on weapons sales to China, a senior German legislator said.
"It will not be lifted," said Volker Ruehe, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament, on Wednesday. He said the reason was China's recent adoption of the "Anti-Secession" Law threatening military action against Taiwan.
"It would send the wrong signal," said Ruehe, who was in Washington primarily to urge the Bush administration to endorse a proposal for permanent seats on the UN Security Council for Germany and five other countries.
The Bush administration has clashed with the Europeans over weapons sales to China, saying China's poor record on human rights justifies maintaining the weapons ban.
Informed of Ruehe's remarks to reporters, a senior US official said the administration did not foresee any lifting of the embargo. But, speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said removing the ban still had some strong European support, particularly from France.
Germany and France have long urged fellow EU members to remove the embargo, while Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden wanted to keep it because of China's human-rights deficiencies.
The Europeans imposed the embargo after the Chinese military crushed student protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The US, which bans arms sales to China, urged the Europeans to maintain the ban as a means of pressuring China on human rights.
The dispute has put trans-Atlantic ties under renewed strain. The US said ending the ban would create more instability in East Asia.
An EU foreign-ministers meeting in Luxembourg last month failed to develop a consensus on the issue, and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said the EU would keep the issue under study and step up discussions with the US.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier called Europe's burgeoning relationship with China "very important" and said he hoped the EU would return to the issue next month.
China's foreign ministry spokesman has previously denounced the embargo as an example of "political discrimination."
The Europeans had pledged not to sell lethal weapons to China if the ban were lifted, saying only that items such as helicopters might be sold.
Ruehe, meanwhile, was sent to Washington by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to lobby Bush administration officials for adoption of a proposal giving Germany and five other countries permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had apparently ruled out a seat for Germany during a meeting with members of a congressional task force.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declined to comment on the report.
"Enlargement is what is being discussed," he said.
"If we find that some of these proposals can make the council more effective, then certainly that's where we will throw our support. But at this point, we haven't taken a position pro or con for any particular proposal," he said.
The administration, however, has publicly endorsed Japan for a permanent seat.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
RSS