EU military exports to China continue despite arms embargo

By David Cronin

Date: 08/12/05

EU countries exported military equipment worth more than EUR 340 million to China in 2004, despite the continuation of the arms embargo imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, according to a new Council of Ministers' report.

Eight of the Union's 25 member states concluded a total of 202 deals for transferring military goods to mainland China last year, the paper says. France accounted for the largest share of these, signing 123 contracts worth EUR 169m in total, followed by the UK (38 contracts, EUR 148m) and the Czech Republic (seven contracts, EUR 19m).

Because the arms embargo only applies to weapons systems in their entirety, EU governments have been able to circumvent it by selling components for arms or dual-use goods (with both military and civilian applications).

The Council's report does not specify the precise types of goods sold. Yet it does say that the categories included "vessels of war", aircraft and imaging equipment "specially designed for military use" or components of these.

The data indicates that the value of EU military exports to China is lower than in 2003, when it reached EUR 416m - almost double the 2002 amount.

Tsering Jampa from the International Campaign for Tibet accused the countries that export military goods to China of double standards. "They are selling arms without any regard for human rights," she said. "The signal they send is that human rights in Europe are fine but once we go outside our borders, it doesn't matter."

But a spokesman for France's representation in Brussels said: "I can assure you that if we concluded agreements with China, we got all the assurances that both European and national legislation require. This has been done in full transparency."

An official with the foreign ministry in Paris said that France would be publishing its own annual report on military exports before Christmas.

The Council's report says that the EU sold nearly EUR 4m worth of military equipment to Uzbekistan in 2004. Last month the Union imposed an arms embargo on Uzbekistan in protest at the involvement of the country's security forces in the massacre of demonstrators in Andijan.

It also says that EU military exports to Israel amounted to EUR 144m last year. Human rights organisations have complained about Israel's use of European-made components during operations in the Palestinian territories.

According to a reports drafted by the EU's Council of Ministers EU countries exported military equipment worth more than €340 million to China in 2004, despite the continuation of the arms embargo imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

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