EU foreign policy head Javier Solana underlined yesterday that the bloc is working towards lifting an "unfair" arms embargo on China, but conceded the timing of such a decision remains unclear.
Speaking at the end of a European Union (EU) summit in Brussels, he reiterated that the EU still has concerns about China's human rights record.
"It is unfair to maintain sanctions on China so many years after the reason it [the embargo] was caused. But I think we're still thinking about this and discussing among ourselves," he said.
The EU arms ban was slapped on China after the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, but France has led a group of EU countries arguing that it is outdated and should be lifted.
In its place the EU plans to beef up a self-imposed code of conduct on arms sales, as well as refining "tool box" of other measures it claims will ensure that no potentially inappropriate hardware is sold to China.
Solana said that the EU was still working towards lifting the arms embargo, but that it was too early to say when a decision could be taken.
"We continue to work on the question of the code of conduct and the tool box," he said.
But he declined to forecast if the EU could meet its target of lifting the embargo under its current Luxembourg presidency.
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