Appeasing Beijing

In recent months, relations between the United States and France have improved, highlighted by events in Lebanon, where both countries have worked together to force Syria to remove its occupation army. But France runs the risk of negating its improved ties with Washington through its support of Beijing’s anti-secession law, which gives it the right to attack the democratic nation of Taiwan if it declares independence from China.

Paris’ campaign to court Beijing continued last week, when French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin began a three-day visit to China by expressing support for the anti-secession law, terming it “completely compatible with the position of France.” When considered in tandem with France’s campaign to persuade the European Union to lift its arms embargo against China, President Jacques Chirac’s government (joined by Germany in its efforts to get the embargo lifted) runs the risk of encouraging a new round of anti-Taiwan threats and intimidation from Beijing.

It would be difficult to imagine a more menacing declaration than the anti-secession law passed in December by the rubber-stamp Communist parliament in Beijing. The statute, endorsed by Mr. Raffarin, declares that Beijing has the right to use “nonpeaceful means” to pressure Taiwan and gives China the open-ended right to decide to employ force whenever it decides that “possibilities for peaceful reunification” have been “completely exhausted.”

Ever since the anti-secession resolution was passed, the Bush administration has sought to emphasize to China that the law was a mistake. In January, White House and State Department officials made the point to Chen Yulin, China’s point man on Taiwan matters. State and Defense Department officials subsequently traveled to Beijing to re-emphasize Washington’s concerns; they also told China that the regime’s buildup suggested it was preparing for an armed confrontation. After Beijing reacted dismissively to American concerns, CIA Director Porter Goss said in congressional testimony in February that China’s military buildup “could tilt the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait” and threaten U.S. forces in the region. But as Mr. Raffarin’s remarks illustrate, France has largely ignored Washington’s concerns. The United States wants the EU to maintain its arms embargo, imposed on the Communist Chinese regime following the 1989 Tianenmen Square massacre. The EU has already carved out plenty of exemptions to the embargo, which have permitted member states to continue to deliver rockets, planes and radar systems to China. In 2003, EU exemptions totaled $550 million. But that is apparently not porous enough for Paris, which covets the Chinese arms market — so much so that it is willing to risk the possibility of doing further damage to its relationship with the United States.