European elites from France and Germany are trying desperately to convince their fellows throughout the European Union to lift the arms embargo against Communist China. Never mind that the Communist regime now treats its own people far worse than it did in the aftermath of the Tiananmen massacre that inspired the arms ban in the first place. Never mind Communist China’s long history of military support for terrorist regimes such as Syria, Iran, Libya, Stalinist-controlled northern Korea, and the Ba’athist tyranny of Saddam Hussein. Nothing can get in the way of Gerhardt Schroeder and Jacques Chirac’s quest for profit and “multipolarity.”

The fate of the arms embargo is still up in the air at this hour; perhaps, by the time you are reading this, the rest of the EU has already succumbed to the wishes of Chirac and Schroeder. However, lest anyone think the people of Europe are as feckless as their most well-known leaders, the elected members of the Parliaments of Europe and Germany took a dramatic stand for freedom and decency, the latter defying Schroeder himself in the process.

Over a month ago, the directly elected house of the German Parliament—the Bundestag—voted in favor of keeping the ban. This may seem unimportant, but it does have political significance. Schroeder himself was elected Chancellor of Germany by the Bundestag, but his own governing coalition defied him on the ban issue. The European Parliament—again, the only piece of the European Union elected directly by Europeans—soon followed suit, making it clear to the EU’s leaders the desire of the European people to put freedom and human rights ahead of fast profits through arms sales.

If the arms embargo survives, it will be due in no small part to the principled stands taken by these elected MPs, who refused to fall for the whimsical arguments that “engagement” with Communist China was in the interests of the European people. However, under EU rules, all nations must support a lifting of the embargo for it to occur. If the ban is still in place, it means one or more nations—likely the Dutch hosts, Sweden, Poland, and/or the Czech Republic—rejected the overtures of Chirac and Schroeder. The governments who stand for freedom and resist the intimidation of the Big Two should be praised, and thanked, for their courage.

While the impact of the parliamentary votes can be debated, they reveal something all Americans should notice: Europe’s leaders do not always speak for their people, and in the case of keeping arms out of the hands of the Communist Chinese Party, some European leaders and President Bush may not see eye to eye, but the American and European peoples are as one on this issue.

This should be remembered the next time Chirac talks about countering America’s “hyperpower” status, or Schroeder, now publicly defying his own parliament and coalition, expresses no concern about the continuing rise of Communist China’s power. They can certainly speak for themselves, but they can no longer claim to speak for the people of Europe.

Iraq notwithstanding, Europe’s supposed hostility to America is clearly overblown. In time, the people of France, Germany, and the other nations of the EU will demand their leaders reflect their own healthy skepticism of Communist China (in fairness, several nations within the EU have done that already). Given the recent actions of the “People’s Republic”—missile sales to Saddam Hussein for which he paid with oil-for-food vouchers, continuing involvement in Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the propping up of the Stalinist regime of Kim Jong-il, the willingness to let Osama bin Laden launder his drug money through Communist front companies in stock markets around the world, and the close support of Pakistan despite (or more likely because of) A.Q. Khan’s nuclear network for terrorist states—that skepticism is more than well founded. The day will soon come when Europe and America find more in common—including hostility to Communist China—than Chirac et al would like to believe. The survival of the embargo (if it has survived) will make that day come much sooner; its demise will push it dangerously farther into the future.

The free world has less time than it thinks. Communist China is not only the largest prison regime in world; it is also the largest benefactor of terrorists and their rogue-state sponsors on the planet. Communist China did not deserve the privilege of arming its military with European weapons in 1989. It most certainly does not deserve the privilege now.

D.J. McGuire is President and Co-Founder of the China e-Lobby , and the author of Dragon
in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror.