Chirac renews call for EU to lift arms embargo on China

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday October 25, 2006

Beijing- French President Jacques Chirac has renewed his call for the European Union to lift its embargo on arms sales to China, calling the ban an anachronism, the French government said on Thursday. Chirac said he believed the embargo "results from an anachronism that is no longer in keeping with the times" and said France also supported calls for the EU to grant market economic status to China.

"We are in favour of the recognition by the European Union of market economic status [for China], and France has said this very clearly," he told state broadcaster China Central Television, according to a transcript on the website of the French embassy.

"In the same spirit, we are equally favourable to the loss of this anachronism represented by the [arms] embargo," Chirac said.

The embargo was imposed in protest at Beijing's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

China has repeatedly urged the lifting of the ban, calling it "political discrimination" and a "Cold War relic."

European supporters of the ban, however, have said China has made little progress in human rights since 1989.

The United States, Japan and human rights groups also support the continuance of the embargo.

Washington and Tokyo have argued that the resumption of European arms sales to Beijing could allow China to acquire sophisticated weapons that would change the military balance across the Taiwan Strait.

Chirac arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for talks with Chinese leaders and to attend several events promoting French business in China.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency