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Lifting arms embargo on long-term agenda
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-07 07:10
SHANGHAI - Europe's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that Brussel's
long-term arms embargo on China will remain in place, but in time would be
lifted. AFP reported.
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| Europe's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that Brussel's
long-term arms embargo on China will remain in place, but in time would be
lifted. [AFP] | "Both sides are looking for the
right time -- this an agreement which is part of yesterday and not part of
tomorrow," he said at press briefing in Shanghai after attending the EU-China
summit in Beijing.
"We want to resolve it. We think that it's part of history, but we have to
find the manner and the moment when this can be done," Solana said, refusing to
lay out any timetable.
European leaders, in an initiative led by France and Germany, agreed last
December to draft an accord on scrapping the embargo, but the move lost steam
amid fierce opposition from the United States, AFP said.
"This embargo is not a military decision, it's a political decision," Solana
said, adding that this required the agreement of all 25 EU member states.
He denied that China's anti-secession law had influenced the EU, although
observers believe that the passage of the law sent the wrong message around the
world by raising cross-strait tensions.
"The EU does not make any decision according to the demands of others,"
Solana insisted when pushed on whether the US opposition had influenced the EU.
"The embargo's removal would not impact the current trade of weapons at all,"
he added.
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