HELSINKI (AFX) - China renewed pressure on the EU at a summit here to lift its longstanding ban on arms sales to Beijing.
'The Chinese side reiterated its view that lifting the arms embargo would be conducive to the sound development of EU-China relations and urged the EU to lift the arms embargo at an early date,' a joint statement released after the summit said.
'The EU side recognised the importance of this issue and confirmed its willingness to carry forward work towards lifting the embargo,' the statement added.
European leaders agreed in Dec 2004 to draft an accord on scrapping the embargo imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy students in Beijing.
But the move lost steam amid fierce opposition from the US and China's controversial move to pass a law that could open the way for a military takeover of Taiwan. victoria.main@afxnews.com afp/vm/sw COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited