Is This Consistency?

[Guest MikeSC]

During a state visit to China, French Premier Raffarin threw support behind a law allowing China to attack Taiwan and continued to push for a lift of the EU arms embargo.

 

At the outset of a three-day visit to China, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he supported Beijing's "anti-secession" law on Taiwan, and vowed to keep pushing for an end to an EU arms embargo that could open the door for Paris to sell weapons to the Asian giant.

 

Raffarin also signed or finalized major business deals with Beijing valued at around $3.2 billion (2.4 billion euros).

 

Appearing to put his government at odds with the European Union, Raffarin said at the outset of the three day visit that Paris had no objections to the anti-secession law.

 

Wen Jiabao

"The anti-secession law is completely compatible with the position of France," he said in a joint press conference with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao (photo).

 

'Anachronistic' embargo

 

At the same time, he vowed that his government would continue to push for the lifting of what he called the "anachronistic" and "discriminatory" arms embargo against China. The embargo contradicts the current "strategic partnership" between the EU and China, he added.

 

During his visit to Beijing on Thursday, China Eastern Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines signed a deal with the European consortium Airbus to buy a total of 10 A319/A320 planes. And China Southern completed an agreement on its purchase of five A380 super jumbos.

 

The deals were signed between the carriers and the European consortium's vice-president, Philippe Delmas, who is in China accompanying Raffarin on his visit.

 

China's Airbus business

 

In talking to news agencies, Delmas said the deals were "not letters of intent, but firm contracts." China is responsible for one-sixth of Airbus's annual deliveries, he noted.

 

France has lobbied hard for Airbus sales in China, and its close political ties with Beijing appear to have helped smooth the way for the deals.

 

Ahead of the visit, Raffarin had stressed his commitment to push the EU to lift its 16-year-old EU arms embargo against China by the end of June. In an interview with China's Xinhua news agency Wednesday, Raffarin reiterated the EU's decision, taken at a summit in December, to work toward lifting the arms embargo by late June.

 

He added that the decision should be Europe's alone, and noted that Europe is working to convince Washington of its position.

 

"France continues to require the lifting of the embargo and does not see what could lead the European Council to change its position on the subject," Raffarin said Thursday in a joint press conference with Wen.

 

Potential growth

 

The airplane deals penned Thursday are estimated to be worth some $500 million to $600 million, Airbus said.

 

Schröder and Wen also got Airbus contracts rolling, in 2004

Some 20 other previously announced contracts were also finalized during the ceremony. Taken together, the value of the deals comes to around $3.2 billion, Delmas said.

 

"This is a very big market ... in the first four months of the year it grew by 40 percent over the same period last year," Delmas told news agencies.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1559253,00.html

So, France WILL support unilateral war --- provided that the person doing the attacking is a major business partner of theirs?

 

Love that French consistency.

 

God knows China handles dissidents FAR better than US handles POW's.

-=Mike

[The Czech Republic 0]

The premier of France is pretty worthless, as a position, correct?

[Guest MikeSC]

The premier of France is pretty worthless, as a position, correct?

Yes. But he would not be saying it without the permission and blessing of Chirac.

-=Mike

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Well, if France lets China attack Taiwan that means the eventual invasion China will perform on France will be delayed a day or two...

[Vyce 0]

This reminds me of my favorite Eric Roberts quote.

 

People scream evil like a motherfucker......until it's their own.

 

Then it's cool.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

It's not like America doesn't change it's mind on foreign policy due to changing interests. This is not really all that different.

 

I don't see how this is worthy of a thread.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Unless we define the worth of threads to be proportional to the level of conservative circle jerking, aka French-bashing.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Enlightened analysis.

[Guest MikeSC]

It's not like America doesn't change it's mind on foreign policy due to changing interests. This is not really all that different.

 

I don't see how this is worthy of a thread.

Except that France has OPENLY supported unilateral actions repeatedly in the past.

 

The only time they've opposed it recently is...shockingly enough, us in Iraq.

 

Before that, they used unilateral action FREQUENTLY. Hell, their actions in the Ivory Coast dwarf anything we ever contemplated doing in Iraq.

 

It's time we simply cut them off. We did them a favor by having them as a permanent member of the Security Council in spite of them being a 9th rate power.

-=Mike

[bobobrazil1984 0]

no its not consistency.

 

the french, like every country, politician, or group involved with politics, is hypocritical and serves its own interests.

 

thank goodness you were here to illuminate this breathtakingly new fact of life! Perhaps next you will show us a SHOCKINGLY NEW instance of a politician being a hypocrite!

[LessonInMachismo 0]

Chirac and France oppose the 2003 Iraq invasion because they knew what we'd find: The weapons that they sold Iraq...weapons that were banned by UN sanctions. The frequently-used term "mortar attack?" Thank the French for the insurgents' use of those weapons.

 

Also, Chirac was buddies with Saddam. They had a public relationship and kissed each other's asses frequently in the 90's.

[Guest Thrashist]

Perhaps some of you are mistaking the French saying "We will not support unilateral war in Iraq" with "We will not support unilateral war". It was never about unilateral war in general, it was about them saying that they did not think there was rationale for war in Iraq (which, surprise, surprise...).

 

Yep, the French didn't go in because one, it didn't serve their own self-interests, and two, there was too much pressure among the people not to. That isn't any different than any other relatively large nation, and in my eyes, their opposition to Iraq doesn't make them much better or much worse than the US. Because really, France, Germany, etc would attack Iraq if it served their own needs, just like the US would have refused involvement if it didn't serve theirs. It had nothing to do with 'national security' or 'moral crisis'. It was, 'will taking over the country give me more economic/political benefits than economic/political losses?'. The US figured yeah, the French and Germans realized no. Tony Blair was just an idiot.

 

And Lesson, the argument that the French didn't go to war because of helping Saddam in the past doesn't make much sense. Wouldn't you think they'd have a better chance of covering up their ties with Saddam if they joined in? It's not like the US would care about France's past criminal actions if they were currently their partners in crime currently. And wouldn't you think, noting their refusal to help, the US would have willingly exposed to the world how much French helped Iraq in the 90's? Hasn't happened. There are probably criminal fingerprints all over Iraq of not only the French, but the British, Germans, etc and most notably, the US themselves. Better not to raise the issue in that case.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

There are probably criminal fingerprints all over Iraq of not only the French, but the British, Germans, etc and most notably, the US themselves. Better not to raise the issue in that case.

Germany, Russia and China all had their fingerprints on post-sanction sales to Saddam's regime. Christmas cards were found in rubble that had been exchanged with Russian intell agents. The only news outlet that I know of who has shed any light on these actions is FNC. The leading expert on the topic is Bill Gertz.

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846