Strasbourg, December 17 – Commenting today after a parliamentary debate which discussed lifting the European Union’s embargo on arms sales to China, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Co-President of the Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament, said:
“The reasons which led to the embargo in the first place have not changed. Human rights are still not respected, Tibet is still militarily occupied and China is still threatening Taiwan. This is why all speakers in today’s debate spoke out against lifting the ban.”
“The Greens call upon French President Chirac and German Chancellor Schröder – who support lifting the embargo – to respect Parliament’s opinion. They want a strong Common Foreign Policy for the Union so they should act as if we already had one. And this means that reversing the ban would only be possible with the consent of the European Parliament.”
Swedish MEP Per Gahrton said:
“The EU should be an organisation of peace – not of arms traders. We should especially not be selling weapons to countries which could use them in military conflicts or against internal opposition. By this rationale we should not export arms to China – or, for that matter, to the United States.”
“I agree with the criticism levelled against China, but we should not forget that there have been some positive developments such as the dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama, which has made the Dalai Lama very hopeful.”
