01. April 2005 F.A.Z. Weekly. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder says he is prepared to overlook the views of the German parliament in his effort to get the European Union to lift its embargo on weapons sales to China.
“I take every vote by the parliament seriously,“ Schröder said in an interview that appeared on Wednesday in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit. “But the constitution is clear. … The constitution says that foreign policy is conducted by the federal government.“
The Social Democrat's comments focused on an issue that pits him not only against the United States once again but also against his junior coalition partner, the Greens.
The issue attracted additional attention last month after the Chinese introduced a policy that essentially preauthorizes military action if Taiwan moved to become independent.
The United States has a legal commitment to Taiwan's security. It views the issue so seriously that it has threatened to tighten the transfer of military technology to Britain, its most loyal ally in Europe, and other European countries if the embargo is lifted, the International Herald Tribune has reported. The embargo was imposed after the Chinese violently crushed a democracy movement at Tiananmen Square in 1989.
In Berlin last month, three opposition parties in the German parliament introduced a resolution aimed at blocking EU leaders from lifting the embargo. The parties hope the resolution will also attract coalition members who also oppose Schröder's effort.
On Wednesday, one of the Greens' parliamentary leaders reiterated the party's opposition to Schröder's efforts. Katrin Göring-Eckardt said China did not meet the requirements for the embargo to be lifted. “In China, human rights continue to be blatantly abused,“ she said.
In the interview, Schröder defended his position by examining the reasons why the embargo was imposed. He said it was imposed because countries wanted to protest the crackdown and not “because people thought that China would pursue an aggressive, militarily supported foreign policy.“
He also noted that nearly 16 years had passed since then. “I'm betting on the further development toward liberalism,“ he said.
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F.A.Z.-LeseprobeAdam Haslett: Union Atlantic
Die Bibliothek der Poeten
Frank Schätzing: Limit
Maryanne Wolf: Das lesende Gehirn
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F.A.Z. Electronic Media GmbH 2001 - 2009
