Economics leads politics leads security on China
■"EU Maintains China Arms Embargo: Pressure to Lift Ban Grows As States Risk Defying U.S. To Cultivate Economic Ties," by Marcus Walker, Marc Champion, and Scott Miller, Wall Street Journal, 9 December 2005, p. A14.
The EU decides to maintain its ban on selling arms to China—for now. But with trade burgeoning as fast as investment (west to east), it's clear that "Europe increasingly sees China more as an opportunity than as a threat."
So don't expect the arms embargo to last much longer. Already Germany and France want to relax the ban as early as next year. I mean, why let the Russians get all the big sales?
China's draw on resources and imports is already lifting all boats in an EU that doesn't take such long-term growth opportunities lightly. Yet another reason why the U.S. needs to establish a secure military alliance with China while the price is still right.