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http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5342402&c=ASI&s=TOPBRUSSELS - A European Union arms embargo clamped on China in 1989 following the Tiananmen crackdown could be lifted in early 2011, Brussels sources told France's Le Figaro daily.
The lifting of the embargo on all lethal weapons "could happen very quickly," a source close to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told the paper.
An EU diplomat in Brussels refused to confirm the claim, but acknowledged that Ashton recommended as much in a report presented at a December 16-17 summit to the bloc's 27 national leaders.
Ashton's report described the embargo as "a major impediment" to Europe-China security and foreign policy cooperation.
"The EU should assess its practical implication and design a way forward," it concluded.
Lifting the embargo would nevertheless require unanimity across EU member states.
Spain recently tried to persuade opponents to lift the embargo, and the issue can be expected to come up again in mid-January when EU foreign ministers' hold informal talks in Hungary.
"We will look into this," said the diplomat.
The issue has re-emerged following talks between China and the EU in Beijing focused on economic and trade cooperation, at which China indicated it would support heavily indebted eurozone economies struggling to raise finance on open markets at affordable interest rates.
An EU official insisted there was "nothing of an exchange or negotiation whatsoever" involving the arms embargo, stressing that there "nothing given in exchange for that support."
Chinese ambassador Song Zhe recently said "it doesn't make any sense to maintain the embargo," arguing that "we will develop our own arms even faster" and claiming that arms companies in Europe "are losing out."
Europe was divided on the issue when it was discussed at a meeting of foreign ministers in September, with some mooting the idea of a conditional lifting of the embargo.
Conditions included improved ties with Taiwan, an amnesty for arrests linked to the Tiananmen crackdown, and a calendar for the ratification of the convention on civil and political rights.
The Figaro said that the Netherlands, Britain and, to a lesser extent, Germany, had each lowered their opposition to lifting the embargo.
But another diplomatic source said Britain in particular remained set against alongside the US and Japan.
Chinese troops and tanks ended weeks of pro-democracy protests in Beijing central Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, killing hundreds if not thousands of demonstrators.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/12/AR2011011200961.htmlDUSHANBE, Tajikistan -- Tajikistan has agreed to give away a portion of its territory to neighboring China in a bid to put an end to a land dispute dating back more than a century.
Parliament voted Wednesday in favor of giving up around 1,000 square kilometers of land in the Central Asian nation's sparsely populated Pamir Mountains region. There was no immediate information on how many people live in the territory to be ceded.
http://china-defense.blogspot.com/While the J-20 captures the news headline but for the troops guarding the front, they probably care more about the new set of "electric" winter uniform that is being issued to them.
The uniform can keep troopers warm at -28C for two hours before each charge or battery replacement.
Teräsmies kirjoitti:ELINT kone?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5gDKmcYllHkD0EzXyAt3XfC_l0pBAhina's government financed $ 40 million equipping of six battalions of Army engineers Bolivia, today announced President Evo Morales to commemorate the anniversary of an institution of the Armed Forces.
The president said at the military ceremony held in the city of Cochabamba, which this week approved a decree that Bolivia acquires the loan from China for the purpose of equipping the military engineers of La Paz, Tarija, Cochabamba, Pando and Oruro .
The loan of $ 40 million be granted by the Export Import Bank of China and will be used to build the facilities for national and international roads in the country.
In addition to this support, China is assisting Bolivia in the construction and commissioning in orbit its own satellite.
Morales attended the anniversary of the Corporation of the Armed Forces for National Development (COFADENA), an entity that carries out productive activities, but currently suffers a lack of resources.
Morales blamed the "neoliberal" the situation of "bankruptcy" of the production facility of the armed forces and promised to give more support to strengthen its growth.
http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/artikkeli/Kiina+kasvattaa+j%C3%A4lleen+sotilasmenojaan+reippaasti/1135264262160Peking. Kiina paisuttaa sotilasbudjettiaan tänä vuonna liki 13 prosenttia. Sotilasmenojen kasvu palaa näin kaksinumeroisiin lukuihin viime vuoden notkahduksen jälkeen.
Kiinan todellisen sotilasmenojen arvioidaan olevan virallisesti ilmoitettuja lukuja selvästi suuremmat.
Varustautumisen kasvu on huolestuttanut Kiinan naapurimaita, erityisesti Taiwania ja Japania. Kiina kuitenkin huomauttaa, että sen puolustusbudjetin loppusumma on edelleen selvästi alhaisempi kuin esimerkiksi Yhdysvalloilla.