European arms sales to China have been put
on ice as the EU reacted to growing internal pressure to hold off on allowing sales of high-tech weaponry to the Middle Kingdom. The ban will stay in place despite French and German calls to get rid of it. As much as George Bush would like to claim credit for the continuation of the ban, it was really the
clumsy passage of the Anti-secession law that did China's chances in.
Bush can no more claim credit for the continuation of the European ban than he can for the fact that it'll probably rain tomorrow here in DC. The Chinese only have themselves to blame for passing a silly, ineffectual law that did nothing except piss other people off. Too bad the same won't happen to the GOP for the same nonsense happening at a hospice center in Florida. More below the fold...
While liberals and conservatives alike howled at the passage of the anti-secession law, which really did not alter any long-established Chinese doctrine, most China hands saw the law for what it was: a typically blunt and silly maneuver by a new Chinese leader in an attempt to shore up domestic support for his policies. Hu Jintao was simply looking to flex his muscles as the new Chairman of the CPC Military Commission, a big takeover of the last of Jiang Zemin's positions. However, the law made China appear ridiculous.
A law that aided Taiwanese independence advocates and put the damper on a warming of relations that occured after cross-strait flights were permitted by Taiwan during Chinese New Year now can also be credited for the continuation of a ban that China feels is humiliating.
Hey, Hu. Threatening another country is never an entirely "internal" affair. Take it from someone who's leader is trying to argue the same thing.
While no China-watchers actually believe that the anti-secession law poses any great threat to Taiwan, it did wonders to damage China's growing status as a diplomatic power in Asia. It will be interesting to watch China's reaction to the continuation of the arms ban and the European slap on the wrist. And it will be fun to watch the Bush administration and "thinking" conservatives try to claim credit for a European decision made really because there was no acceptable alternative.