Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) When the European Union (EU) considerslifting its arm sales ban on China, it will have to think deeplyabout which is more important, selling weapons or human rights, saidRichard Faulkner, who is leading a British parliamentary delegationon a five-day visit to Taiwan.
Lifting the 16-year-old arms embargo on China would be tantamountto sending a message to the world that "the EU doesn't care abouthuman rights, " Faulkner, a co-chairman of the British -TaiwaneseAll-Party Parliamentary Group, said Wednesday.
"Instead, it would be a message telling people that the EU ismore interested in selling arms," he said.
Visiting British delegates also shared the same thoughts in abrief meeting with Tsai Ming-shen, vice minister of the Ministry ofNational Defense, Faulkner added.
Faulkner, who is making his fourth visit to Taiwan, acknowledgedthat China has a huge potential for U.K. and British conglomerateseager to enter its market. However, the British-Taiwanese All-PartyParliamentary Group is also trying hard to stress the importance ofhuman rights, which is a common value shared and respected by all EUcountries.
The 15-member group is the largest British parliamentarydelegation to visit Taiwan to date, said Edgar Lin, the ROC's toprepresentative in the UK.