France insisted on Monday the EU should lift an arms embargo on China despite objections from the US, but won scant support from its EU partners.
The embargo was imposed after Chinese authorities clamped down on protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
"The logic of the embargo imposed in 1989 is now outdated," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said at the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg.
He said the EU was treating China like Zimbabwe, Sudan or Myanmar while cooperating with it on satellite technology.
Ending the arms ban could open up lucrative trade opportunities with the world's fastest-growing major economy, which has a large and widening trade surplus with the EU.
Barnier said EU talks on ending the embargo "are moving" and he hoped for a positive decision in the coming weeks.
But Ireland, which currently chairs the EU, has said it does not see the bloc lifting the arms embargo during its six-month presidency which ends in June.
Reluctant to rush into a move which could antagonize Washington, several countries 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.
Britain said it was untimely, Nordic states objected on human rights grounds and Germany backed away from supporting France owing to local sensitivities about arms sales.
The US accuses Beijing of backsliding on human rights and says arms sales could upset the strategic balance in east Asia, where there are tensions between China and Taiwan and between Seoul and Pyongyang.
RSS