A French bid to lift the EU's arms embargo on China by April 1 was rebuffed by the bloc's foreign ministers on Monday due to concerns about the country's human rights record.
The ministers agreed only to reconsider the ban -- imposed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square -- at a future meeting.
The EU enjoyed a trade surplus with China at the beginning of the 1980s, but it now has a large and widening deficit which stood at around 47 billion euros (US$59.15 billion) in 2002.
Ending the arms embargo could open up lucrative trade opportunities with the world's fastest-growing major economy.
France's push, which coincided with a visit to Paris by Chinese President Hu Jintao (
"Do European governments want to risk having blood on their hands by allowing European weapons to be used against civilians in any future crackdown?" Graham Watson said in a statement.
"A desire to curry favor with the Chinese president during his state visit to France is no excuse for rethinking a long-standing European policy rooted in principle," he said.
France argues that the ban is "anachronistic" given the improved relations between Beijing and the EU and sits oddly with weapons embargoes imposed by the bloc on only three other nations -- Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
"China is now a special partner ... playing a key and responsible role in the international system," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters before going into talks on the sensitive issue with his EU counterparts.
"We should encourage it in this direction to contribute to international stability and security, especially in Asia," he said.
But he won no support in the meeting for France's aim to lift the embargo at an EU summit at the end of March.
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