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China Arms Embargo on Agenda for Rice's European Visit

The European Union (EU) must be careful "not to send the wrong signal about human rights" as it prepares to lift an arms embargo on China, according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice was interviewed by Reuters and Agence France-Presse February 1 as she prepared to travel to Europe and the Middle East, her first trip abroad as secretary of state.  She will visit nine countries and the West Bank between February 3 and 10.

"Fortunately, we've had a good dialogue about this matter of the arms embargo," Rice said.  "I think at this point … we need to continue to discuss it and to continue to understand why [lifting the embargo] is a problem for the United States, and to understand the European motivations for wanting to go down this road."

The European Union imposed the embargo in response to China's June 1989 crackdown on demonstrators at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.  EU officials say that the embargo will be replaced with a code of conduct for exports, but the United States is not convinced that such controls will be adequate.

In addition to human rights issues, Rice said, the United States has "concerns about the strategic military considerations" of lifting the embargo.

Rice refused to speculate when asked if the Bush administration would support retaliatory or restrictive measures.

"I've found the Europeans open to our concerns and willing to try to understand them," she said.

When asked about the status of negotiations to address North Korea's nuclear programs, Rice reiterated earlier positions of the Bush administration.  The administration continues to support the regional framework of the Six-Party Talks, she said.

China has hosted three rounds of the six-party forum, which includes the United States, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and North Korea.  But the initiative was largely stalemated throughout 2004.

"We believe that we have the most effective forum possible in having a six-party forum in which not just the United States, but the other neighbors … are sending a common message to the North Koreans about the path ahead," Rice said.  She stressed that the United States has no intention of attacking North Korea, and urged the North Koreans to return to the negotiating table.

"We made a very good proposal at the last round of the Six-Party Talks, and it's on the table for the taking," she said.

Rice said the 1994 bilateral accord between Washington and Pyongyang, known as the Agreed Framework, had left North Korea the option to "unfreeze at any time that they become annoyed with the international community."

An international consensus forged by a regional agreement will prove "more effective" in the long run in constraining violations by North Korea, Rice said.  

A transcript of Rice's interview can be found at: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2005/41460.htm