US fury over EU weapons for China

The Telegraph -uk ^ | January 15 2005 | Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor

[Brian Allen]

The Government of the United States of America is waging an intense behind-the-scenes battle to stop the European Union lifting its 15-year-old arms embargo against China, warning The Blair government that it will not tolerate the prospect of European military technology being used to threaten its soldiers in the Far East.

As Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, prepares to travel to Peking next week to discuss ending the arms ban, The Telegraph has learnt that the Bush administration is alarmed by Tony Blair's "cave-in" to French and German pressure.

Japan has also expressed dismay over the EU's move dramatically to upgrade relations with Peking.

The Tories have warned the Government that it is creating a "major breach" with Washington and endangering vital exchanges of military technology between Britain and America.

Mr Straw told the House of Commons this week that the arms embargo, imposed on China after its government perpetrated the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, would "more likely than not" be lifted by June.

The timing seems designed to avoid provoking a public row with President George W Bush before his fence-mending visit to Europe next month - including a stop in London.

It would also spare Britain the embarrassment of the EU lifting the ban during its presidency of the body in the second half of the year.

Mr Straw insists that a revised EU code of conduct on arms exports, coupled with a new "toolbox" of measures to exchange information on weapons sales, means that arms controls on China would remain as tight as under the embargo.

But America is deeply sceptical of such assurances, and well-placed sources are warning that the question of arms sales to China could explode into a new transatlantic row, more bitter even than the dispute over Iraq.

The US sees China as its main long-term rival for global dominance and is worried about possible military conflict over China's declared desire to re-assert control over Taiwan, which America has vowed to defend.

US officials argue that any easing of European arms control exports poses a threat to its soldiers.

But EU officials point out that Israel, one of America's closest allies, sells large amounts of weaponry to China.

American officials have told their British counterparts that even if the Bush administration keeps a measured tone, the response in Congress is likely to be heated.

One likely casualty would be Britain's long-standing attempt to secure a so-called "ITAR waiver" - a special exemption from complex US rules on the export of militarily -sensitive technology.

15 January 2005 - Britain sells out for the sake of China's market: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/01/15/dl1501.xml

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.

[Brian Allen]

With "friends" like these, our nation needs no enemies.