EU holds firm on China arms embargo

(BEIJING) - The European Union insisted Thursday its arms embargo against China would remain until the nation's human rights record improved, despite the two sides agreeing to expand their strategic partnership.

"We are working toward lifting the arms embargo. (But) we want to see the right environment," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told journalists on the final day of her three-day visit to China.

"For instance, we want to see the ratification of the (United Nations) Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of (its) citizens.

"We would also like to see the release of the prisoners from Tiananmen Square and also the abolishment of (the extra-legal penal system of) education through labour."

The EU implemented the arms embargo in the aftermath of the crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests, when the Chinese military killed hundreds, if not thousands, of unarmed protesters in Beijing and jailed scores more.

An EU official in Beijing said the criteria listed by Ferrero-Waldner in relations to the lifting of the arms embargo were not new.

But her comments coincided with the kickstarting this week of negotiations between Beijing and the EU to expand an economic and commercial treaty into other fields such as the environment.

Ferrero-Waldner said the new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with China was expected to form the basis of EU-China relations "for years ahead".

She said the new pact could take "a couple of years" to fully negotiate and underscored the EU's hope to outline cooperation on energy security, climate change and sustainable development.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said on Wednesday that China was also looking forward to expanding the partnership.

However Beijing has consistently called for the arms embargo to be lifted, and the issue has remained a point of contention between the two sides.

China has repeatedly called the embargo a relic of the Cold War that is incompatible with current bilateral relations and urged Brussels to lift it as soon as possible.