The EU, under intense pressure from the US to maintain its arms trade embargo on China, told Beijing on Sunday not to expect an end to the ban before the middle of this year.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
France had led a drive to scrap the embargo, which was imposed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, arguing it was "anachronistic" given the improved relations between Beijing and the EU.
Ending the arms ban could open up lucrative trade opportunities with the world's fastest-growing major economy, which now has a large and widening trade surplus with the EU.
But most EU states, reluctant to rush into a move which could antagonize Washington, rejected France's push for a decision by last month and said there must first be clear evidence of an improvement in Beijing's human-rights practices.
Ireland, which holds the presidency of the EU until the end of June, said the bloc's foreign ministers would discuss the embargo at a meeting in Luxembourg next week but made it clear the matter would not be cleared up there.
"I've given to my Chinese colleague this presidency's frank assessment that we don't believe -- as things stand -- that a decision is likely during our presidency," Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen said at a joint news conference with Li.
Li, dubbing the arms embargo a product of the Cold War, said the ban was "outdated" and had "served its time."
Diplomats say Washington exerted pressure to keep the ban.
The US accuses Beijing of backsliding on human rights and says selling it arms could upset the strategic balance in east Asia, where there are perennial tensions between China and Taiwan and between Seoul and Pyongyang.
France argues that if the ban was scrapped, exports from EU countries would still be limited by a 1998 code of conduct barring the sale of equipment that could be used in domestic repression or regional conflicts.
But many of its EU partners have serious doubts about the effectiveness of this security net.
Amnesty International called last week on the bloc to close loop-holes in the code of conduct, saying it had no legal teeth and its weak wording was open to interpretation by member states.
The London-based human rights watchdog said that at least seven EU states even now are continuing to sell weapons parts and accessories, bombs, grenades, ammunition and mines to China. One diplomat said that Ireland had defused tension within the bloc and given time for China to respond to gentle prodding on human rights.
China says fundamental human rights mean feeding, clothing and housing its 1.3 billion people and that individual rights should take a back seat.
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