Anything But Arms? Perceptions, the European Union and the Arms Embargo on China

Abstract

This article examines the debate that emerged in the European Union (EU) in late 2003 and ran to mid-2005 on the possibility of lifting the arms embargo imposed on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since June 1989. It seeks to offer a more nuanced explanation of the developments in the EU’s arms embargo policy towards China than has been put forward in the existing literature to date, which makes assumptions about the motivations of certain actors. To do so, it examines how the perceptions of key policymakers in the EU and two of its Member States – France and the United Kingdom (UK) – influenced their positions in the debate. The article argues that an account focusing on the variation in perceptions between actors and consequently divergent policy preferences through close process-tracing of the development of the policy facilitates a more nuanced explanation of the proceedings of the debate.