U.S. CONGRESS MAY SANCTION FIRMS IF E.U. LIFTS ARMS BAN AGAINST CHINA
ROC Central News Agency
2005-03-09 20:26:04
Washington, March 8 (CNA) U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said Tuesday that if the European Union lifts its arms embargo against China, some in Congress might support sanctions against companies in the EU who trade with China.
Hagel said that what the United States worries about is dual-use technology falling into the hands of the wrong people, adding that " ...obviously, sophisticated technology enhances anyone who possesses that technology -- their defense capability, their intelligence capacity."
But he also said, "We have some rather stringent laws in the United States to ensure, as best as we can, that doesn't happen."
Asked whether he thinks Congress will impose sanctions against companies if the embargo is lifted and companies start trading with China, Hagel replied that he didn't know if that would be an option. "But there are those here in Congress who might well support something like that," Hagel said.
Hagel is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations International Economic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion Subcommittee and the co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
The EU imposed the arms embargo against China shortly after its bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Recently, the EU has been mulling lifting the ban.
(By Jorge Liu and Lilian Wu)
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