Monday, April 04, 2005
With friends like France, who needs enemies?
Jerry Scharf at Commonsense and Wonder has posted a link to a Reuters report containing this delightful information:
French President Jacques Chirac has reiterated his support to China's president for the lifting of an arms embargo imposed by the European Union over a decade ago, the official Xinhua news agency has said.
Chirac, a leading supporter of relaxing the embargo imposed after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989, told Hu Jintao by telephone that the embargo was outdated and should be revoked, Xinhua said late on Friday.
Hu said the embargo had become increasingly inappropriate and that lifting it would help promote relations between China and the European Union, Xinhua said, following a conversation that also touched on the possibility of visits by the Chinese and French premiers this year.
Isn’t that special? Jacques is working overtime to snuggle up to China, but it’s nothing to worry about. After all, he doesn’t plan to actually sell any weapons to China, he just thinks that lifting the embargo would make the world a more pleasant place:
Last month, Chirac said that EU countries would not start selling weapons to China if they lifted the embargo and that his support for lifting the ban was aimed at normalising relations with China.
Let’s think about this for a minute. China’s motivation for obtaining the most modern western weapons systems it can lay its hands on is most likely:
a) to defend itself from invasion by powerful, threatening neighbors like Nepal
b) to suppress the fierce resistance movement among Tibetan monks
c) to counter the growing menace posed by UFO’s
d) to have them available for use against US carrier task forces protecting Taiwan
But not to worry. Jacques doesn’t want to actually sell China weapons. He just wants to improve relations between the EU and China by lifting the embargo. Because lifting the embargo and then telling them that you will NOT sell them what they want is a sure-fire way to improve relations.
French President Jacques Chirac has reiterated his support to China's president for the lifting of an arms embargo imposed by the European Union over a decade ago, the official Xinhua news agency has said.
Chirac, a leading supporter of relaxing the embargo imposed after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989, told Hu Jintao by telephone that the embargo was outdated and should be revoked, Xinhua said late on Friday.
Hu said the embargo had become increasingly inappropriate and that lifting it would help promote relations between China and the European Union, Xinhua said, following a conversation that also touched on the possibility of visits by the Chinese and French premiers this year.
Isn’t that special? Jacques is working overtime to snuggle up to China, but it’s nothing to worry about. After all, he doesn’t plan to actually sell any weapons to China, he just thinks that lifting the embargo would make the world a more pleasant place:
Last month, Chirac said that EU countries would not start selling weapons to China if they lifted the embargo and that his support for lifting the ban was aimed at normalising relations with China.
Let’s think about this for a minute. China’s motivation for obtaining the most modern western weapons systems it can lay its hands on is most likely:
a) to defend itself from invasion by powerful, threatening neighbors like Nepal
b) to suppress the fierce resistance movement among Tibetan monks
c) to counter the growing menace posed by UFO’s
d) to have them available for use against US carrier task forces protecting Taiwan
But not to worry. Jacques doesn’t want to actually sell China weapons. He just wants to improve relations between the EU and China by lifting the embargo. Because lifting the embargo and then telling them that you will NOT sell them what they want is a sure-fire way to improve relations.
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