If the European Union would eventually lift it’s 15-year arms ban against China (as it starts a 25-state summit in Brussels) that would be a minor miracle. But then, miracles always happen. With the passage of China of the anti-secession law targeted against Taiwan, the United States had doubled its emphasis and upped the pressure on Europe not to sell those war toys to China. It was just a bad time for the Red Dragon to pass war legislation like the one it enacted especially for Taiwan last month; especially now that they are buzzing on Europe to lift its arms embargo against it. It’s like knocking one’s own head with a hammer. The echelons in the China parliament should have been more cautious and should have maneuvered to veil its intent by delaying any war-like move.
Now, EU may really need the money coming in from the all-too-rich arms market of China and may still lift the arms embargo but then the United States is vehemently stalling them by threatening to renege on its commitment to provide licenses for crucial technology transfers. And the United States had made it clear that it will retaliate against Europe not only by disallowing technology transfers but also by other means. We could only ponder what these other “retaliations” come in the form of.
So EU may have to weigh its options carefully by calculating the ups and downs of every choices that is presented before it. Sell arms to China and lose technology input or to hell with new technology and gain big dough from China. Its elementary mathematics on its hands but surely, it got its hands so full and a major headache to contend.
Free market is so good so that if Europe wants to sell, it must be allowed to sell by all means and if China wants to buy, then let it buy. But we are talking here of arms sales and it's not always the same thing. Just recently, tension had increased across the Taiwan Straits. I bet that if push comes to shove in that area and war emanates from it, EU might be blamed for everything. Besides one of the most certain consequences of major arms input to China is the altering of the balance of power in the Asian region and we know all-too-well that it’ll be bad for world.
Now, EU may really need the money coming in from the all-too-rich arms market of China and may still lift the arms embargo but then the United States is vehemently stalling them by threatening to renege on its commitment to provide licenses for crucial technology transfers. And the United States had made it clear that it will retaliate against Europe not only by disallowing technology transfers but also by other means. We could only ponder what these other “retaliations” come in the form of.
So EU may have to weigh its options carefully by calculating the ups and downs of every choices that is presented before it. Sell arms to China and lose technology input or to hell with new technology and gain big dough from China. Its elementary mathematics on its hands but surely, it got its hands so full and a major headache to contend.
Free market is so good so that if Europe wants to sell, it must be allowed to sell by all means and if China wants to buy, then let it buy. But we are talking here of arms sales and it's not always the same thing. Just recently, tension had increased across the Taiwan Straits. I bet that if push comes to shove in that area and war emanates from it, EU might be blamed for everything. Besides one of the most certain consequences of major arms input to China is the altering of the balance of power in the Asian region and we know all-too-well that it’ll be bad for world.
What’s the worse time to pass an anti-secession law? China should have known it by now.
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