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The Eu embargo is based on a 1989 political declaration that Eu
members will embargo the "trade in arms" with China. Each EU
member may interpret and implement the embargo's scope for
itself. We found no cases of EU members entering into new
agreements to sell China lethal military items after 1989,
although some members delivered lethal and nonlethal military
items to China during the 1990s--apparently in connection with
preembargo agreements--and have more recently agreed to deliver
additional nonlethal military items. According to experts,
the
embargo is not legally binding and any EU member could legally
resume arms sales to China if it were willing to bear the
political consequences of doing so. At least two EU members are
now considering whether the embargo should continue.
EU and other European officials told us that the European Union
has left the interpretation and enforcement of the declaration
to its individual member states4 and that the members have
interpreted the embargo's scope in different ways. Officials in
some EU nations informed us that their nations have embargoed
the sale of virtually all military items to China. In contrast,
the United Kingdom's interpretation of the EU embargo does not
bar exports of nonlethal military items, such as avionics and
radars.
The UK embargo is limited to lethal weapons (such as
bombs and torpedoes), specially designed components of lethal
weapons, ammunition, military aircraft and helicopters,
warships, and equipment likely to be used for internal
repression. European and EU officials told us that EU members
tried during the early 1990s to develop a detailed Eu-wide
interpretation of the embargo's scope. These attempts apparently
fell short and resulted only in the members' mutual recognition
that they were not selling China lethal weapons.
wo EU member states delivered lethal weapons to China after the
embargo, according to publicly available sources of information.
These deliveries--French Crotale ship-to-air missiles and
Italian Aspide air-to-air missiles--appear to have been made in
connection with preembargo agreements. Similarly,
French-licensed Chinese helicopter production, which continued
into the 1990s, began prior to 1989. Also, the United Kingdom
honored a preembargo agreement by providing China with radars,
displays, and other avionics for its F-TM fighter aircraft.
During the 1990s, Italy and the United Kingdom agreed to sell
nonlethal military items to China. Italy agreed to sell fire
control radars for use on Chinese F-TM and F-TMP export
fighters. The United Kingdom agreed to sell China the
Searchwater airborne early warning radar system. UK officials
informed us that the decision to do so is consistent with the UK
interpretation of the Eu embargo, in that the Searchwater is not
a lethal weapon or a weapons platform.
Figure 1: Deliveries of Foreign Military Items to China, 1990-96
Russia/Soviet Union 71.8%
Middle East 17.0%
U.S. commercial 5.8%
Western Europe 2.3%
U.S. government 0.7%
Other 2.5%
Total value: $5.3 billion (current-year dollars).