http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4288067.stm

- While I've been a past admirer of Chirac's Gaulle-like policy of defying the US, I really don't agree with him, or the current European consensus, of lifting the embargo on China.
It may perhaps be a contradiction to urge China to embrace democracy while simultaneously placing them under trade sanctions, but I think in this case it is a necessity.

I really don't wanna have to fight the Chinese! They're bloody mental!

Id have to agree with you. China can manufacture thier own arms if they need to.

if what they make are inferior i wont lose a moments sleep over the large chinese army with less deadly weapons

World War 3, here we come (well, at least this particular incident doesn't help negate the possibility).

We should sell them arms ourselves. There's rich irony to be had in having billions of products in China labelled "Made in USA"

I think it a larger irony to be shot by a chinese man weilding a gun with "Made in the USA" on it.

Chirac has two agendas to advance by lifting the arms embargo. One is to boost French arms sales (badly dented by the loss of Saddam as a customer in the last decade). The second is to oppose US interests wherever possible to set up France as the alternative to US influence. The advancement of democratic ideals takes a back seat to both of those goals. He is taking the "pragmatic" view that any western style democratic reforms in China are a pipe dream and it would be wiser to just make nice with the hardliners to avoid conflict and make a few hundred million Euros in the bargain.

Personally I think selling some of the most advanced product your nation can produce to a country renowned for copying, pirating, reverse engineering and cheap manufacturing is pretty short-term thinking. In the longer view it is both economic and military suicide when you consider China's interests do not coincide with your own.

Gulor sums it up pretty well.

/shrug I like the Chinese.

They need us and we need them period for economic reasons. In fact as I speak now my inlaws are running around Beijing having a ball.

They will get weapons either way, they will make poweful weapons soon enough. If France sells them might as well take the buisness from them.

We would lose a war with China. We would run out of bullets before being overrun.

I like Chinese,
I like Chinese,
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're always friendly
And they're ready to please.

I like Chinese,
I like Chinese,
There's nine hundred million of them
In the world today,
You'd better learn to like them,
That's what I say.

I like Chinese,
I like Chinese,
They come from a long way overseas,
But they're cute and they're cuddly
And they're ready to please.

I like chinese food,
The waiters never are rude,
Think of the many things they've done to impress,
There's Maoism, Taoism, I Ching and chess.

So I like Chinese,
I like Chinese,
I like their tiny little trees,
Their Zen, their ping-pong, their yin and yang-ese.

I like Chinese thought,
The wisdom that Confucious taught,
If Darwin is anything to shout about,
The Chinese will survive us all without any doubt.

So I like Chinese,
I like Chinese,
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're wise and they're witty
And they're ready to please.

I like Chinese,
I like Chinese,
Their food is guaranteed to please,
A fourteen, a seven, a nine and lychees.

I like Chinese,
I like Chinese,
I like their tiny little trees,
Their Zen, their ping-pong, their yin and yang-ese.

I like Chinese...

Zehn, I've been worried for you for a while now.

You have far too much spare time.

Monty Python, I believe?

I'm gonna go with Gulor on the arms situation. Seems the French have some surplus sling shots or somethin'...

What can I say? Eric Idle inspires me.

/bow to Gulor

Summed it up quite nicely.