US House rejects bill on arms sales to China

Editor's note: This past week has been particularly busy. I've met the woman of my dreams...unfortunately she lives four hours north of me so between visiting her, work and now a weekend jaunt to New Orleans for my friends bachelor party, my time and energy to write has gone a little off the rails. Next week I should be back on track.

However, even though I've made two trips to Tampa, one to Orlando, another to New Orleans and still managed to work 3 9 hour days, I still can find the important news of the day. Take that mainstream media! ; )

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So I think I've figured out why we get along with the Saudi's so well. They talk cheap about their love of America while giving millions to jihadi's for the expressed purpose of killing Americans. We talk cheap about a war on terrorism and never letting an enemy catch us unawares while selling millions of dollars in arms to China...after they've said they're ready for war with us over Taiwan. A quick message to the business lobbies that helped torpedo this bill that would have pressured the EU against selling arms to China...you can't take your vast fortunes in blood money with you when you're dead.

Here's the story:

The US House of Representatives rejected on July 14 a bill that would have imposed penalties on European firms selling weapons and technologies to China, according to Phoenix TV.

The bill not only urges US president and the Congress to impose pressures on the European Union for it to maintain arms embargo on China, but also pushes US President Bush to keep a close eye on arms deals related to China and prohibit exports of sensitive technologies to China.

The bill, proposed by House International Relations Committee Chairman Republican Henry Hyde, aims to urge the US government to impose pressures on the European Union through legislation and to dampen the EU's idea recently that it might lift the arms ban on China. The bill also demands the Bush administration

deliver an annual report and pay close attention to the countries and firms that sell weaponry and export military technologies to China. The bill also requires the US government to enhance the control over its exports to China so as to prevent export of sensitive technology to China.

The voting shows that the bill fails to win the support of the majority and is far from the votes needed.

The opposition to the bill was mainly from US business groups including US Chamber of Commerce, Aerospace Industries Association and the Electronic Industries Alliance. Representatives from these organizations lobbied that the control over technical exports to China will incur the United States disadvantages in the trade with China, for instance, the losses of commercial orders and jobs. Such remarks that made many representatives who originally supported the bill originally change their attitude when voting. Some representatives said if the bill was passed, the losses of the United States in its practical economic interests would be heavier than in of the so-called regional security.

The increasingly strengthened economic and trade relations between China and the United States played a key role once again in the voting. Economic interests will certainly play a much more important role in the complicated relations of the two countries in the future.