Posted on 11/09/2001 9:48:20 AM PST by taiwanese_superhawk
Schroeder Vows Not to Shell Subs to Taiwan
Associated Press, Nov. 3, 2001
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, on a trip to boost business ties with China, promised yesterday not to sell military submarines to Taiwan.
Answering questions from students after a speech at Peking University, Schroeder said Germany's "one-China policy" rules out submarine sales to the self-governing island. He said Germany has turned down such requests in the past.
"Our government adheres to a very strict one-China policy, and this stance means we won't sell weapons to Taiwan," Schroeder said.
Germany has diplomatic ties with Beijing and only informal relations with Taiwan. Beijing claims the island as its territory and reacts angrily to foreign weapons sales to its democratic government.
Schroeder's comments received warm applause from Peking University students, who are known for their nationalistic sentiments.
The comments underscored Taiwan's trouble in obtaining diesel-powered subs. Washington has offered them as part of an arms package, but no U.S. company makes them.
Taiwan has just four submarines -- two of them barely seaworthy -- and says it needs several more to fend off any potential attack or blockade by China. Germany is one of the few countries that make diesel subs.
Schroeder was in the second day of a visit aimed at boosting commercial ties. Germany is China's biggest European trading partner.
China often conditions commercial ties on meeting its political aims.
Beijing cut French companies out of contracts in China for a year after Paris sold fighter jets to Taiwan in 1992. Beijing suspended diplomatic ties with Holland after it sold Taiwan subs in the 1980s.
Some US$10 billion worth of deals are to be signed during Schroeder's three-day stay, according to Chinese state media. That could include a US$1.5 billion contract to sell 50 Airbus A320 jetliners to Chinese airlines.
Deals signed Wednesday included an agreement by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG to build a US$3.1 billion chemical plant in Shanghai.
Another was a US$1 billion complex that BASF AG, Europe's biggest chemical maker, plans to build in Shanghai with the U.S. firm Huntsman Corp. and Chinese partners.
Schroeder also is to visit the northeastern port of Dalian and Shanghai, China's business capital. He is to inspect the first commercial magnetic-levitation high-speed train under construction there by German firms and inaugurate several business ventures.
In his speech Wednesday, Schroeder said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States made international cooperation even more important -- a theme that he discussed with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji on Wednesday
"The incident was an attack on the foundation of civilization, but it offers us an opportunity to remake the international political order," Schroeder said.
"Inequality, evil and oppression must be fought," he said.
And he said the attacks underscore the need for reform of the U.N. Security Council to make it more "representative and effective."
China is one of five permanent Security Council members. Germany is among nations hoping to join through expansion.
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