France Repeals "La Marseillaise"

France's national anthem is unsurpassed. The words, translated, include this admonition:

Against us tyranny's/Bloody standard is raised. . .

Tremble, tyrants and traitors/The shame of all good men/Tremble! Your parricidal schemes/Will receive their just reward.

So much for theory--France's idea of a tyrant's "just reward" isn't just at all:

During a state visit to China, French Premier Raffarin threw support behind a law allowing China to attack Taiwan and continued to push for a lift of the EU arms embargo.

At the outset of a three-day visit to China, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he supported Beijing's "anti-secession" law on Taiwan, and vowed to keep pushing for an end to an EU arms embargo that could open the door for Paris to sell weapons to the Asian giant.

Appearing to put his government at odds with the European Union, Raffarin said at the outset of the three day visit that Paris had no objections to the anti-secession law.

While in China, Raffarin also re-affirmed that France aims to upset traditional balances of power and will neither negotiate nor compromise on foreign policy--not just with the United States, but with its 24 fellow members of the European Union:

The EU has made clear it is opposed to any use of force between China and Taiwan and has warned against "any unilateral action". . .

The United States has warned that removing the embargo would upset the balance of power in the region.

"France continues to require the lifting of the embargo and does not see what could lead the European Council to change its position on the subject," he said.

With that attitude, France can be counted on to ignore Pope John Paul II's wishes.

Uniting immorality and unction, Raffarin insisted:

[T]he two countries share similar views on international affairs, favoring solving international disputes through peaceful means and multilateral actions and respecting the diversity of cultures and development models of other countries.

To safeguard peace and promote development, France and China maintain good cooperation at the UN Security Council, taking concerted moves over the issues of Iraq, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Iran, he said.

Should you be confused by the Prime Minister's Orwellian jargon and Foucaultian post-modernism, allow me to translate. France's definition of a "tyrant" has nothing to do with tyranny and everything to do with cash:

Raffarin also signed or finalized major business deals with Beijing valued at around $3.2 billion (2.4 billion euros). . .

During his visit to Beijing on Thursday, China Eastern Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines signed a deal with the European consortium Airbus to buy a total of 10 A319/A320 planes. And China Southern completed an agreement on its purchase of five A380 super jumbos.

The deals were signed between the carriers and the European consortium's vice-president, Philippe Delmas, who is in China accompanying Raffarin on his visit. . .

France has lobbied hard for Airbus sales in China, and its close political ties with Beijing appear to have helped smooth the way for the deals.

France's policy is more than a passing fad--a year ago, France scored an assist in threatening Taiwan:

China opted to stage rare naval drills with France in the run-up to Taiwan's elections. The exercises with a visiting French fleet are being held on Tuesday.

The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, said they would be China's biggest ever joint military exercises with a foreign power. . .

China has a history of flexing its military muscles just before Taiwan goes to the polls. . .

The French government confirmed the exercises but denied there was any significance in their scale or timing.

"They are part of the regional cooperation between the two navies, which was expanded after last year's visit to France by Chinese President Hu Jintao," said a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry in Paris.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao plainly enjoyed the back-scratching orgy, "China appreciates France's understanding and support to China on the Taiwan issue and EU's lift of arms embargo." I'll bet they do.

War between China and Taiwan would be bloody and prolonged. Though Taiwan's airforce is equal or superior to the PRC's, mainland China's military numbers 2.3 million people, about 2 million of which are the People's Liberation Army. Taiwan, by contrast, has fewer than 200,000 personnel in combat arms. Though our Pacific Fleet vastly outnumbers China's blue water Navy, American intervention to defend Taiwan would not be a cake-walk. Two and a half years ago, China:

[C]ut a multi-million dollar weapons deal with Russia to purchase more SS-N-22 Sunburn cruise missiles. The SS-N-22 Sunburn is considered "the most lethal anti-ship missile in the world" and the number one threat to U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.

According to Arsenjev Aviation Company in Russia, China has agreed to arm two more Sovremenny destroyer warships with the deadly Sunburn missile. Arsenjev has reportedly already begun the process of preparing the missiles for China.

To be fair, the Bush Administration is partly to blame for China's increased belligerence:

Sitting in Beijing's China World Hotel, speaking first to Hong Kong's Phoenix Television and then to Mike Chinoy of CNN, Secretary Powell delivered a vision for relations between Taiwan and China. On Phoenix TV, he urged that "both sides should...move forward toward that day when we will see a peaceful unification." In his interview with Mike Chinoy, Powell said, "we [presumably the United States, not he and the Chinese foreign minister] want to see both sides not take unilateral action that would prejudice an eventual outcome, a reunification that all parties are seeking."

Whether Powell was prevaricating or being disingenuous — or had been badly briefed about Taiwan — is unclear. But it is a fact that Taiwan emphatically does not seek eventual unification. Indeed, Taiwan's antipathy to unification has grown dramatically following the unhappy reunion of Hong Kong's incipient democracy with established Chinese despotism.

Although the State Department spokesman insisted in Washington that U.S. policy had not changed — and though the American proto-ambassador in Taipei, Mr. Douglas Paal, insisted to his Taiwanese counterparts that Powell really meant "resolution," not "reunification" — there was no attempt to rectify another of Powell's gross misstatements.

Powell added insult to injury when he averred to his Hong Kong interviewer that "there is only one China," that "Taiwan is not independent," and that "it does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy."

But notwithstanding stray comments by retired Panglossians, the U.S. remains committed to Taiwanese independence under 22 U.S.C. § 3301(b):

It is the policy of the United States - . . .

(3) to make clear that the United States decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means;

(4) to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States;

(5) to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character; and

(6) to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.

By contrast, France this week offered to sell Taiwan to China for 30 pieces of Euros ($ 39.13 at current exchange rates). This duplicity -- if only for its peevish contrariness -- seems impossible to top.

Gary at RightPundit asks: "what profession does the behavior of France’s government remind you of? (No, not lawyers. Think other old profession.)" Good thought, Gary--but an insult to whores. Still, Gary's idea suggests France's replacement anthem: the English folk song "Fanny Blair"--especially verse number 6 (verse 5 in Maddy Prior's version).

(via Little Green Footballs and NIF) [minor editing 9:50pm]

More:

Jay Tea at Wizbang cautions against over-reacting: "Historically, having the French against you is virtually a guarantee of success. Oh, please let France's history be prophecy, if only for the sake of the people of Taiwan..."

Still More:

Over at WILLisms, the new "Chinapean Union."