BRUSSELS: French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday repeated a call for lifting an arms embargo against China at a press conference after a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

He said the ban "is no longer justified" and should be lifted "under conditions that Europe and the United States define together."

The president said the move will not break a strategic balance, referring to a remark by US President George W. Bush earlier at the NATO summit that lifting the ban might change a strategic balance in Asia, especially across the Taiwan Straits.

Bush also signalled that Washington might take punitive steps against the European Union if it ends the weapons ban on China.

Chirac said the allies of the United States, Canada and Australia, have never imposed such a ban or gave it up 10 years ago.

At a summit between the United States and the EU after the NATO meeting, Chirac also stressed the importance of a strategic partnership with China.

He said: "We have a lot of problems around the world such as warming climate and threats from diseases and poverty."

To fight the problems, Europe needs co-operation from not only the United States, but also a strategic co-operative partnership with Russia and China, he added.

China has insisted the embargo is "outdated" and "political" and the lifting would not harm the interests of any third party.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan on Tuesday urged the United States to follow the historical trend instead of setting obstacles.

Bush met German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the western German city of Mainz yesterday, amid street protests by thousands.

(China Daily 02/24/2005 page1)