Euro elites and masses divided on China alliance

In Europe, public turns toward U.S. on China:
"'... if Europe does want a strategic partnership with China, then that means the EU should openly discuss China's strategic interests and that includes human rights, censorship, its relations with Taiwan and other issues,' said Daniel Keohane, security analyst at the Center for European Reform in London."

France and Germany are driving the diplomatic push to form a strategic partnership between Europe and China, politely inviting many smaller nations to shut up and get out of the way. Unlike the debate over the Iraq war, public opinion in Europe is generally favorable toward the maintenance of sanctions or the British effort to impose a new arms trade regime to replace the sanctions imposed at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Unlike their enlightened leaders, the people seem to understand, as reports from Human Rights Watch and other observers make clear, that nothing much has changed in China on the human rights front.