No arms to China

last updated 8 January 2015

Brussels

Bowing to U.S. pressure, the E.U. has decided not to lift its arms embargo against China, Hamburg, Germany’s Der Spiegel reported this week. Western nations quit selling weapons to China after the 1989 massacre of democratic activists in Tiananmen Square. In recent months, though, France and Germany said they planned to resume the sales to reward China for progress on human rights. But the E.U. changed its mind after strong pressure from the U.S. and China’s recent statement that it would invade Taiwan should the island republic declare its independence. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier this week that Europe should “do nothing” to alter the balance of power in Asia. “It is the United States, not Europe, that has defended the Pacific,” she said.