Non-governmental organizations and European Parliament legislators urged EU member states on Wednesday not lift the arms embargo against China.
The ban on weapons sales was imposed after the Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing in 1989, but there's a discussion within the EU about whether to end it.
The lifting of the embargo would severely undermine the EU's human rights policies, said Dick Oosting, director of the European branch of Amnesty International.
"The number of human rights activists arrested in China is rising and the concessions we're getting are minimal," Oosting told a seminar on the issue at the European Parliament. "How can human rights not be an issue in relations with such a huge country?"
Oosting said China has succeeded in diverting attention from its human rights record and "made the embargo the problem, not the human rights."
Sharon Hom, executive director of New York-based Human Rights in China, called on the European Parliament to urge EU member states not to lift the embargo until all political prisoners in China are released.
"If you lift the embargo, the message will be that it's OK to use violence against people," she said.
The US is adamantly against ending the embargo, saying that would allow China to obtain more sophisticated weaponry that could threaten Taiwan and US forces in Asia.
Several EU governments have voiced their support for lifting the arms embargo, but there's a cross-party consensus within the European Parliament against it.
British lawmaker Graham Watson said the time hasn't come yet to end the embargo.
"If the EU decides to raise the arms embargo, it is necessary to get the conditions right. There are a number of concrete improvements that we would wish to see introduced first," he said.
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