US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS3310

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 003310 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DRL/PHD FOR SUSAN O'SULLIVAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, PARM, MARR, CH, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ON EU/CHINA ARMS EMBARGO 
 
REF: A. USEU BRUSSELS 3159 
 
     B. USEU BRUSSELS 2896 
 
Classified By: USEU Poloff Van Reidhead for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) DRL Senior Advisor Susan O'Sullivan and poloff met 
July 23 with Human Rights Watch (HRW) Brussels Director Lotte 
Leicht to discuss the EU drive to lift its arms embargo on 
China.  Leicht said that HRW is working with Amnesty 
International (AI), Human Rights in China (HRIC), and 
likeminded members of the European Parliament (EP) to develop 
a strategy for activism over the coming critical months.  HRW 
believes that European publics and parliaments need to become 
much more active in order to prevent the EU from lifting its 
embargo this fall.  Leicht said she was considering putting 
the issue on the agenda of the EP's Human Rights Contact 
Group, which also involves representatives from the Council 
Secretariat and Commission, during its fall term (HRW and 
 
SIPDIS 
other NGOs will collectively chair the Contact Group from 
September to December).  HRW also planned to get relatives of 
Tiananmen victims to speak out in the EP and other European 
parliaments.  Leicht encouraged the US to "engage the full 
spectrum" of European MPs/MEPs -- appealing to HR concerns on 
the left and Transatlantic relations on the right -- to build 
bipartisan support for maintaining the embargo.  (NOTE: USEU 
is working with Liberal-Democratic EP leader Graham Watson to 
secure another EP resolution in the September-October 
timeframe.) 
 
2. (C) Arguing forcefully that lifting the embargo would 
deliver China a huge and unearned propaganda victory, Leicht 
said that HRW was taking the position that instead of lifting 
the embargo, the EU should issue a political declaration 
laying out the specific HR steps China would need to take in 
order to lift the embargo in the future.  EU leaders should 
not be permitted to manipulate China's HR record in order to 
curry political or commercial favor from China, she said. 
She thought the only way to prevent that was to cultivate 
sufficient public pressure to force leaders to define tough 
conditions, including resolving all outstanding Tiananmen 
issues, for lifting the embargo. Leicht suggested that 
increased cooperation among likeminded NGOs, MPs/MEPs, and 
third countries would add value to our parallel efforts 
(NOTE: We are working with Leicht to host a small roundtable 
of likeminded groups at USEU to discuss this idea). 
 
Sammis