Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-06-Speech-3-310"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050706.27.3-310"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
".
Mr President, a lot has been said in this very interesting debate. I thank all Members for their interesting contributions. They have concentrated on a few topics.
With regard to the arms embargo, my colleague has said almost everything. I should just like to answer Mr Jarzembowski, confirming that we are aiming at a legally binding code of conduct. It will depend on the Member States, but that is our aim.
With regard to human rights, it was said by a few Members that we have not mentioned human rights. That is simply not true. On the contrary, human rights feature in all our political dialogues and great significance is attached to them. I recently met with Foreign Minister Li and I was also involved in a troika in China. The main topic there, apart from the arms embargo and some trade issues, was the human rights issue. We clearly said – and this went on record – that the Chinese should go on, for instance, with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and with releasing prisoners incarcerated after the Tiananmen Square protests. We have a human rights dialogue at least, where these issues can be clearly talked through and then, hopefully, taken up by the Chinese.
I would also like to mention Taiwan. The European Union has advocated – and this is a unanimous policy – the one-China policy, which means that we do not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state and we have no diplomatic or formal political relations with Taiwan. Nevertheless, we have cultural and economic relations with Taiwan. Therefore, it is not for us politicians but for high officials to go to Taiwan, where they hold exchanges of views. We also do not support Taiwan's efforts to become a member in international fora because, if such membership implies statehood, that is not possible according to the consequent policy that we have. Taiwan was able, by contrast, to join the World Trade Organization because the WTO supposes that each member is a separate customs territory, thus making Taiwan's membership possible.
With regard to the China-Taiwan question, the EU has been very explicit with both sides, consistently insisting on a peaceful resolution through dialogue, as I mentioned. We were indeed very pleased, and said as much, when opposition politicians went there. We said that we encouraged them to do such things with all other politicians.
The whole question of the United Nations, of multilateral diplomacy, is very important. We stand before a reform of the United Nations. China will have a very important say there. We would like to work in a very constructive way.
I should like to pay tribute to Mrs Stenzel and other colleagues for this interesting mission to the DPRK. It would be in all our interests if the six-party talks were resumed. If needed, we are always standing ready. There is no need for the European Union to come in, but if there is a need – we have always mentioned that to all the parties – then certainly we would be prepared and ready.
I thank you for this highly satisfactory discussion. We must accept a China that will rise with or without us. Therefore, we must focus all our interests in shaping that rise to ensure that China emerges as an open society committed to the rule of law at home and abroad and also as a power that acts responsibly regionally and with regard to global security and, hopefully, in the future, democratically. It is now at a critical place in the global supply chain, meaning that the significant EU business and consumer interests also need to be consolidated and advanced. We need to influence the reform process in all areas of society and the economy. We try to do that in our bilateral talks, in our troika talks, within the framework of the different international organisations, or at the United Nations."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples