Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson faced criticism in parliament on Saturday for his support for a possible lifting of an EU arms embargo on China.

Swedish lawmakers were unhappy that the Scandinavian country was abandoning its traditional firm stance regarding respect for human rights in China.

"What means of pressure remain?" asked opposition Centrist lawmaker Asa Torstensson from the right-leaning Centrist party, quoted by Swedish news agency TT.

European Union leaders on Friday declared their "political will" to lift an arms embargo on China, possibly by next June, while stressing that Beijing must respect human rights and regional stability.

"The government had an opportunity to pursue a policy in which human rights are a priority," said another opposition deputy, Cecilia Wistroem of the Liberals.

Gustav Fridolin of the Green party, which backs the ruling Social Democrats in parliament, asked why Persson had not called for a stricter monitoring of the arms.

Persson said he had called Fredrik Reinfeldt, the leader of the Conservatives, the largest opposition party, from the summit in Brussels to ask him his view on the issue.

"I called him and asked him if he thought it was right that we should be the last" to support the embargo, he told TT.

"We agreed it would not be an intelligent policy," he said.

Reinfeldt stressed the importance to Swedish companies of the Chinese export market.

"A policy of symbols without any real effect should not a be a priority," he said.

China has never expressed regret for the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protestors in central Beijing.