Rice: Europe agenda has China arms focus

Heading to Europe to repair damaged relations, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed a subject yesterday that is unlikely to make her job easier: Europe’s dealing with China.

The United States’ new top diplomat expressed concern to reporters on her plane that the Europeans will ignore US objections and lift an international arms embargo on China.

The embargo has been in place for almost 16 years, imposed just after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Hundreds if not thousands of people died in areas near the square.

“The Europeans understand our concerns,” Rice told reporters during the flight. “First of all, there is obvious concern about the military-technological balance in the region.”

The Americans worry that without an embargo European countries could sell China advanced weapons that might one day be used against the US or Taiwan.

The US is also concerned about the message that arms sales would send about the world’s attitudes toward China’s human rights record, Rice said. China’s treatment of dissidents and other human rights questions is a continued irritant in relations with the US.

“This is still a discussion, and we’ll continue that discussion,” Rice said.

“Partners are not always going to agree. What’s important is that we have an atmosphere in which we can express our concerns and do that with partners willing to take each other’s concerns into consideration.”