The French Foreign Ministry on Monday said France's support for
the removal of the European Union's arms embargo on China remained
"unchanged."
Asked whether there is any change in France's stance on the EU
arms embargo, a spokesman for the ministry told a regular news
conference that the embargo had become "obsolete" and the French
stance on the removal of the embargo remained unchanged.
The embargo fails to reflect the current relationship between
the EU and China and does not accord with the EU's policy of
building a strategic partnership with China, he said.
France believes that it should work together with other partners to
push for the removal of the EU arms embargo on China, the spokesman
said.
The EU imposed its arms embargo on China in 1989. The 2004 EU
summit in Brussels formally placed the issue of lifting its arms
embargo on China on the EU agenda.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)
