Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-16-Speech-2-026"

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"en.20041116.7.2-026"2
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"Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner Patten, it is always good to see you again. The arms embargo against China was the EU’s response to the events in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. It was our way of showing our abhorrence of what happened to thousands of peaceful demonstrating students. Since then, the world has changed. China has changed, but not the regime. China is the world’s largest dictatorship. Hundreds of thousands of dissidents are oppressed or imprisoned in labour camps. The country leads the world in terms of executions; human rights are infringed every day; freedom of expression is severely restricted, and all opposition is in principle banned. The regime would thus seem not to be changing, and now we are discussing whether we should lift the embargo, in spite of the fact that no changes have occurred. What kind of signals does this send to the surrounding world and to China? China presents good trade opportunities, and we must trade with China; but we must not forget with whom we are dealing. We cannot betray all the thousands, indeed hundreds of thousands, of democracy activists, political prisoners and young people who secretly surf the Net to find out what is really happening. All these people have their hopes pinned on Europe. Are we to betray them by selling weapons to the regime that oppresses them? Are we to have European missiles and submarines directed against the Democratic Republic of Taiwan? No, we must be consistent. It is our credibility that is at stake, and that is more important than the French mirage aircraft, the Swedish JAS Gripen or German submarines. The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is counting upon you, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, to stand up for human rights and retain the embargo and to send that message to the Council."@en1

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