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<p>Europe has angered the United States with talk of canceling its arms embargo against China - but governments and companies on the continent have for years delivered weapons and other equipment to Beijing and its rapidly modernizing People's Liberation Army.</p>

If the E.U. carries out this threat -— and make no mistake, this would be a genuinely hostile act against the United States -- the transatlantic tiffs of recent years could come to seem minor, and Bush could be saying a final farewell to old allies rather than renewing strategic bonds.

BRITAIN’S largest defence company, BAE Systems, will not sell arms to China if the European Union lifts its arms embargo, for fear of jeopardising its extensive American interests.The disclosure to The Times last night added fuel to the longrunning dispute between the United States and EU, which threatens to sour the new mood of unity between the two blocs when President Bush meets European leaders in Brussels today. Mr Bush conspicuously failed to mention the dispute during his wideranging speech in Brussels yesterday, in which he appealed for a “new era of transatlantic unity”. However, Peter Mandelson, the European Trade...

The European Union has told Beijing there will be no early lifting of its arms trade embargo on China. The ban was imposed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. France had pushed to end the ban, but most EU states said there must first be clear evidence of an improvement in Beijing's human rights practices. The Chinese foreign minister called the ban a relic of the Cold War, but added that "all good things take time". "This is up to all our European friends," Li Zhaoxing said after a meeting with senior EU officials in Ireland....

WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- The United States Monday urged the European Union not to lift an arms embargo again China, citing Beijing's human rights record. "I expressed concern that the European Union might lift its arms embargo," Secretary of State Colin Powell said at a joint news conference with top EU officials following their meeting. "We and the European Union imposed prohibitions for the same reasons, most especially China's serious human rights abuses, and we believe that those reasons remain valid today." France wants to lift the sanctions, which were imposed following Beijing's 1989 crackdown of students in Tiananmen...

The United States on Wednesday took a dim view of French President Jacques Chirac's pledge to China to work towards the lifting of a European Union embargo on arms sales to Beijing. Chirac gave the undertaking during talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Paris, saying the embargo, slapped on China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre "makes no more sense today." The State Department said it viewed bans on arms sales to China by the United States and EU as complimentary, and did not agree they should be lifted. "For the United States, our statutes and regulations prohibit sales...

Arms embargo on China makes no more sense: Chirac   The arms embargo on China makes no more sense today, French President Jacques Chirac said in Paris on Jan. 27 at a joint news conference with his visiting Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao. He said France hopes the restriction would be scrapped "in the coming months." European Commission President Romano Prodi also called on the European Union (EU) to study the possibility of lifting the embargo. It's high time to reconsider the situation and eventually lift the embargo, Prodi told French radio Europe 1, adding that European rules mean that it...

A French attempt to lift the European Union arms embargo against China was rejected by ministers yesterday amid concern over Beijing's human rights record and belligerent attitude to Taiwan. President Jacques Chirac has led the drive to ease sanctions imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre of students in 1989, hoping to benefit from China's economic growth and draw Asia's rising power into strategic "multipolar" alliance with the EU to counter American hegemony. But EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed by 14 to 1 that China's deployment of up to 650 missiles in a war of nerves against Taiwan made...

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana signalled Monday support for those seeking to lift a ban on arms sales to China imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. "If you take the list of countries with whom we have embargos of arms or weapons .. probably China is not in the company it should be," he said, after EU foreign ministers launched talks on a French-led initiative to end the ban. He noted that China's leadership has changed dramatically since the bloody events of 15 years ago. "It's a leadership that wants to look forward, (that) doesn't want to be...

Last Update: 15/07/2003 04:27 PM meets Blair after Straw rebuffs call to end Arafat ties By Aluf Benn and Sharon Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondents LONDON - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with his British counterpart Tony Blair on Monday evening for talks over dinner at 10 Downing Street, during which Sharon was expected to urge a rethink of British support for Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat. Earlier in the day, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told Sharon that Britain would continue to work with Arafat, despite Sharon's contention that the Palestinian leader should be removed from power, a British official said. The...

EU CONSIDERS LIFTING ARMS EMBARGO FROM LIBYALONDON [MENL] -- The European Union is considering lifting its arms embargo from Libya. EU foreign ministers will discuss a proposal to remove the arms embargo from Libya during a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday. The proposal was submitted by Italy, which has been negotiating for the sale of fast patrol craft to the North African country. A decision is not expected imminently, EU sources said. They said they expect the United States to oppose the Italian proposal. In 1999, the United Nations suspended Security Council sanctions imposed on Libya in connection with the...