China urges EU to lift arms embargo
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-11-19 09:19

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in Beijing Thursday that China hopes the European Union (EU) will lift its arms embargo soon.

The European Union has had an arms embargo against China for 15 years, and the restrictions are a product of the Cold War and not suitable for the current development of the China-EU relationship, she said at a regular press conference.

Zhang said she hoped that the European Union will make decisions that benefit China-EU relations, such as opposing the direct linkage of arms embargo and removing the human rights issue.

"China has made remarkable progress in human rights field," shesaid.

Zhang said China and the European Union have held 17 human rights dialogues with fruitful achievements.

The two sides can solve their divergence in this area through dialogue mechanism, she said, hoping the European Parliament will make more contributions to healthy development of China-EU relations.

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