EU arms embargo against China must remain -- France must not question sanctions

In the light of the announced drastic increase of the Chinese defence budget the Society for Threatened Peoples warned urgently on Tuesday against raising the EU arms embargo against China. "The embargo must remain, for otherwise not only would Taiwan be in danger, but also the safety of the whole of East Asia.", said the GfbV Asia correspondent, Ulrich Delius. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, had announced during a state visit to China in November 2007 that France would work for the sanctions to be raised during his term of office as EU chair, which begins in July 2008.

With the increase in the defence budget for 2008, which was announced today, of 17.6% Peking has linked new warnings against Taiwan, after stationing more than 100 new rockets on the straits between the mainland and Taiwan in 2007. Before that 1,070 short and medium-range rockets were already aimed at the island.

In Japan too anxiety is growing concerning the rearmament of the neighbouring country, since China's military budget has for the 20th time risen in two-digit figures . Military experts estimate that the real increase is significantly higher than the figures officially given and ae in the region of 30%. According to estimates of the US defence ministry the Chinese defence budget for 2007 is more than twice as high as officially announced, meaning that Peking has expended about 130 thousand million US dollars on the rearmament of its army, while the official figures show only 45 thousand million.

Since the former Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder promised in December 2003 to support Peking in its attempts to raise the arms embargo in the near future, the GfbV has spoken up for the retention of the sanctions. They were imposed in the year 1989 following the massacre on the Tienanmen Square. China is very interested in high technology from Europe to build up new weapons systems in space and its rocket technology. The French armaments industry is clearly hoping for lucrative orders from the People's Republic after the raising of sanctions.