Is EU choosing China over US?

All 26 countries in NATO pledged money, equipment, or personnel to train Iraqi security forces, and the European Union and the United States agreed to jointly host a conference to coordinate international aid to Iraq.

But, another sticking point arose: China.

Bush and European leaders "plunged into a troublesome new dispute ... over the lifting of an arms embargo against China," The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The China quarrel was a jarring note on an otherwise upbeat day of reconciliation, handshakes and hopes for better relations.

According to The New York Times the disagreement injected " a discordant note into [Bush's] otherwise harmonious tour."

02/23/05 Australia signs up, Canada signs off 02/22/05 Will there be a draft? 02/18/04 Did US military target journalists in Iraq?

Sign up to be notified daily: Find out more.

Bush said lifting the arms embargo, imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, "would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan and that's of concern." He also warned that the US Congress might retaliate if Europe revokes the ban.

But French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the embargo should be lifted, reports AP. "It will happen," Mr. Schroeder said.

"Europe intends to remove the last obstacles to its relations with this important country," Chirac said Tuesday, after Bush expressed "deep concern" about such a move.

According to the Times, "European leaders seem determined to act soon, perhaps as early as June, though they promise to scrutinize the sales to keep particularly advanced technology out of Chinese hands."

In keeping with its strategy in nonmilitary industries, China would probably seek to form joint development projects with the Europeans. That would give it faster access to their technology, which is precisely the development most feared by strategic planners at the Pentagon.

The Economist also points out that some US politicians stress that the rationale for the embargo – Chinese human-rights abuses, such as the detention of dissidents – still exists.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan maintained Tuesday that the EU's plan to lift its arms embargo on China won't infringe upon the interest of third parties, and that the lifting of the embargo is "irrelevant" to "the present situation of the Asia Pacific region."

But the Times reports that the EU's plan to lift the weapons ban has much more to do with economics than it does with military ties. "Much more is at stake in Europe's decision than whether it sells French fighter jets or German submarines to Beijing - namely broader commercial ties and some genuine diplomacy."

As if to underscore that point, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson arrived in Beijing Wednesday for a four-day visit – his first official visit – to the People's Republic of China.

According to a press release published on the EU's website Europa:

Commissioner Mandelson's visit is intended to stress the need to create a new strategic partnership between the EU and China, based on discussion and negotiation on a wide range of issues both economic and political.

Europe is China's largest trading partner and China is Europe's second largest trading partner. China has enormous further potential as a market for European companies. At the EU-China summit last December, leaders agreed to actively explore the feasibility of a new framework agreement covering the EU's relations with China. The European Commission believes that among other things this should include ambitious provisions on trade and Investment.

Speaking before his departure Commissioner Mandelson said: "I see no greater strategic challenge for Europe than to understand the dramatic rise of China and to forge ties with it." Mandelson also said Monday that the US would be " wrong to pick a fight" with Europe over the issue, reports Agence France-Presse.

From the US point of view, the "looming transatlantic row over China," as the Economist calls it, comes down to Taiwan.

The possibility that American and Chinese forces might one day clash over Taiwan cannot be discounted. So the idea that America's NATO allies in Europe might actually aid the Chinese arms build-up seems abhorrent to Washington.

For the French, wider ideological issues come into play. Mr Chirac is the strongest proponent of replacing American hegemony with a "multipolar world". On a visit to Beijing last October he declared that France and China shared "a common vision of the world – a multipolar world."

Also...
• US resolution reveals distrust of China, EU ( China Daily)
• PM buys into Japan war debate ( Daily Telegraph, Australia)
• With a hush and a whisper, Bush drops town hall meeting with Germans ( Der Spiegel, Germany)
• Muslim clashes in Nigerian city( BBC)

• Feedback appreciated. E-mail Matthew Clark.