A Treacherous Triangle? China and the Transatlantic Alliance

The United States and Europe avoided diplomatic disaster last year when the European Union narrowly decided not to lift its arms embargo on the People's Republic of China (PRC). Brussels was handed a convenient pretext for shelving the question when China passed an "Anti-Secession Law" to ratchet up tension in the Taiwan Strait, but the transatlantic alliance cannot rely on such luck next time the issue arises. Although the United States and Europe initiated a senior level dialogue on Asia following last year's arms embargo crisis, these talks should be expanded to cover a wider range of working-level operational questions