UK-EU Presidency Crucial to Future of Arms Embargo on China
Today Tony Blair’s long-anticipated presidency of the EU was made official. Blair’s leadership comes at a critical time for the EU, as it is in the process of consolidating its foreign policy.
Of particular interest is the EU’s relationship with China. Since the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989, the US and EU have upheld the arms embargo against China. But despite China’s abysmal human rights record and routine threats against Taiwan, the EU is moving toward lifting the embargo.
A few days before Blair’s assumption of the presidency, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) held its 7th General Assembly at The Hague. Representatives from unrepresented nations, minorities and indigenous peoples across the world adopted a resolution on the European Union’s stance toward the Arms Embargo on China.
The resolution expresses members’ unanimous support for the EU’s continued arms embargo on China. Most notably, it stresses China’s violation of human rights and repression of the rights of Chinese people and the peoples of Eastern Turkestan, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet as reasons to continue the existing arms ban.
The resolution states furthermore that lifting the embargo poses a threat not only to Japan, Korea and Vietnam, but also directly affects Tibet, East Turkestan, Tuva, Buryatia, and Taiwan.
The UNPO calls upon the EU, under the auspices of British leadership, to maintain the Arms Embargo on China and safeguard the rights of oppressed persons within it, and in neighbouring countries.
By Safia Lakhani, UNPO Secretariat
