Selling Fangs to a Dragon

Article.

Despite US pleas, France and Germany want to end a European Union arms embargo of China. Fortunately, other nations in the EU are expected to nix the idea at a China-EU summit this week.

The embargo was imposed 15 years ago after the Tiananmen massacre. In addition to keeping the heat on Beijing over its constant human-rights violations, the EU ban on military exports also has slowed down China's rapid build up of its forces.

Germany and France don't seem to care, as the US does, about China's threats to take Taiwan by force, or that its ever more sophisticated ships, planes, and missiles may soon upset the current regional power balance.

China threatens commercial retaliation if the embargo isn't lifted. The US threatens to curb sales of sensitive military technology to Europe if it is. The Pentagon may also not award contracts to EU arms exporters.

The EU may try a compromise that promises a future opening of the arms door to China, but with a screening of all military sales under a loose ethics code. In addition, China would have to ratify an international convention on civil liberties.

But just as it keeps an arms embargo on Burma, Zimbabwe, and Sudan, the EU should not feed the forces of China's authoritarian rulers.

I've mentioned this subject in passing several times, and regret that I have yet to report on this issue (and what it relates to) in the detail that it deserves. For now, it may suffice to say that China is expected to be the next major rival to the US superpower status. With a population of five times that of the US, and a rapidly growing economy, China is well on its way. However, China may require a revolution before it can reach equal status with the US, because the technology that China will gain to develop the economy should also allow for anti-government opposition and development of some freedoms.
The US has China surrounded, but this containment process has been very quiet. We have been sending tons of aid to Mongolia (north of China, it is right between Russia and China), are good buddies with South Korea, have expressed an interest in a nation of Taiwan, and has been helping the government of Nepal defeat Maoist rebels.

Thus, the US does not want a likely future rival to buy military equipment from Europe, because those weapons may be used against us.