When President George Bush heads home to Washington from this week's goodwill tour of Europe, a less glamorous team of European Union officials will follow close on his heels. Their job: to persuade the U.S. that Europe isn't about to start arming China with high-tech weapons that could one day be turned on American soldiers.
It will be a tough sell. EU leaders have said it is all but certain they will lift a 15-year-old arms embargo on China by June. They say it is a purely symbolic act and that changes being made to the EU's general code of conduct on arms exports will restrict weapons sales to Beijing at least as much as the embargo. However, U.S. officials are unconvinced.
1151Z MON 21FEB05 WSJ
Recent Comments