European Parliament opposes lifting arms embargo against China

Strasbourg (AsiaNews/AFP) - The European Parliament has demanded that the European Union maintain its arms embargo against China because of the nation's human rights record and its "threats against Taiwan".

The EU assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that rejected talk of lifting the embargo - in place since the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989 - as promoted by EU leaders and China itself.

"The human rights situation in the People's Republic of China has improved over the years but remains unsatisfactory," said the resolution, addressed to all 15 present member states and the 10 due to join in May.

"The crackdown on fundamental freedoms continues as well as torture, ill-treatment, mistreatment of HIV-Aids sufferers, arbitrary detention, the high number of death sentences each year, and the lack of respect and protection of minority rights."

The parliament, which traditionally takes a strong line on human rights, also said it believed "it is the wrong time, in view of the Chinese threats against Taiwan, to open the way to a lifting of the European arms embargo".

France and Germany have called for the embargo to be lifted and Britain says ending the ban would be largely symbolic.

At summit talks a week ago, EU heads of government said it was time to re-examine the question of the embargo on the sale of arms to China.

The central government responded to the move by saying the EU embargo "does not conform with the good momentum in the development of relations between China and Europe".

"We hope that the EU can at an early date adopt measures to eliminate this embargo," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has given out contradictory signals on its stance on the embargo.

Commission president Romano Prodi backed the statement put out by the European Union leaders, Mr Prodi's spokesman Reijo Kemppinen said.

But a spokeswoman for External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten had said that China "would need to demonstrate very clearly the progress made in human rights" first.

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