US Nod for Arms Sales to China

The United States has reluctantly accepted that the European Union will lift its arms embargo on China within months, Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state, indicated yesterday.

On the penultimate day of her week-long tour of Europe and the Middle East, Ms Rice praised European leaders for listening to US concerns.

"I really have to underscore how much the Europeans have tried to take account of our concerns; how good the discussions have been," she said after lunching with Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.

In a sign of deep US unease at the proposed move, however, Ms Rice said: "The United States has very specific concerns about the lifting of the embargo, having to do with human rights: 2,000 people were arrested after Tiananmen [military crackdown in Beijing in 1989] and 2,000 people are still jailed.

"We do have to worry about the military balance in that region and we have concerns about technology and technology transfer."

The US is concerned that strengthening China's military capability could encourage Beijing to adopt a more belligerent stance towards Taiwan.

Washington fears that - in the worst possible outcome - US forces could come under fire from European weapons if America rallies to the defence of Taiwan.

But the White House has resigned itself to the EU's decision to lift the arms embargo, which was imposed in the wake of 1989 bloodshed in China.

European leaders, who will delay an announcement until after President George Bush's European visit later this month, have calculated that the White House will live with the decision.

It is accepted that the US Congress will be less forgiving and may try to impose sanctions on Europe.

José Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, indicated that the embargo would be lifted after taking on board US sensitivities. A tough new code of conduct would be introduced to ensure that weapons would not be exported if they could be used for external aggression or internal repression.

"The European Union cannot be accused of rushing into this," he said.