A Chink of light?

Forgive the pun, but it looks like China's new "anti-succession" law which authorises military force against Taiwan could make the EU think twice about selling new weaponry to the Chinese. This is the view of Condoleezza Rice who is in Asia for talks this week.

"The Europeans... know very well our views on the arms embargo, that this is not a time to end the arms embargo," Rice told reporters en route to India, first stop on her one-week trip. "I would hope it would at least remind the Europeans that there are still serious security issues in this region."

China, however, is insisting that its new law is meant to promote peaceful unification, but Rice was not convinced – as indeed very few others have been. "It's our responsibility", she says, "to say to both the parties that unilateral moves that increase tensions are really not helpful."

Don't you love, incidentally, the diplomatic language - "...really not helpful"? That's one way of putting it, I suppose.