Lose the Delusion notes that the EU ready to lift its ban on arms sales to China.

The United States, Japan, and of course Taiwan are not happy about this decision. In Britain, which switched sides to support France and Germany in this decision, the Liberal Democrats are criticising the Government’s decision. Human Rights Watch is not happy. They all have valid points.

While the Chinese argument that it is not appropriate to continue classing them with Myanmar and Zimbabwe is not without merit, arms sales to a non-democratic government should make Europeans uneasy. The fact that there will “stringent rules” in place and that Israel is also doing it doesn’t make any more palitable a policy. Less than a year ago, the EU refused to lift this ban because of continued concerns about human rights in China.

We certainly shouldn’t get excited about this because of its signalling of a strengthening of common foreign policy in the EU. If EU policies aren’t better than the nation states’, they are no more worthy of our praise.