At Thursday's regular press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao condemned the US and Japan's interference in the lifting of the EU's arms embargo.

"We believe that on the question of lifting the arms embargo, the Chinese side, and especially the EU side, have indeed been (recipients) of unreasonable and unnecessary disturbances," he said.

"The arrangement between the EU and China to lift the embargo is not directed against any third country, or aimed at undermining the interests of any third party. Therefore, to stand in the way is totally unnecessary and unreasonable," he stressed.

France and Germany have been leading calls to end the ban, but the EU has scrapped its end-of-June target date for ending the embargo, and did not set any new deadline at a meeting of the 25-nation bloc's foreign ministers in Luxembourg Monday.

Jean Asselborn, foreign minister of Luxemburg, the rotating EU presidential country, admitted on Wednesday that the EU is under pressure from the US and Japan not to lift the embargo.

But he said he believed the EU and China could find a solution to the issue.

"We hope the EU will make good their promise and lift the embargo as soon as possible," Liu said. "This will remove a major barrier and be beneficial to the furtherance of relations."

Liu hinted that Washington should not make wanton remarks or interfere with the development of normal relations between China and other countries.

Two months ago, Washington imposed a series of sanctions on Israel's defence industry following a weapons deal in which Israel was reported to have agreed to upgrade a consignment of drones it had sold to China.

Nearly 18 months ago, China-Israel relations deteriorated after Israel had backtracked on a deal to sell the Phalcon advanced airborne radar system to China.

A deal for a sophisticated surveillance system was aborted in 2001 because of pressure from the US, which was concerned the aircraft could be used against Taiwan.

Turning to Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing's upcoming Israel visit, Liu said that China attaches importance to ties with the Middle East state. Both sides should overcome outside disturbance when developing normal bilateral ties.

Liu said during Li's visit, he would exchange views with the Israeli side on all issues related to bilateral relations.

He said China values relations with Israel, adding that development of the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries is in the common interests of the two sides, and conducive to regional peace and stability.

Li will visit Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Syria and Lebanon from June 17 to 26.

He will also attend an international conference on Iraq held in Brussels June 22 at the invitation of Jean Asselborn and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
 
Over 80 countries and international organizations have been invited to attend the conference, which is co-hosted by the EU and the US.

In reply to a question on whether US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will visit China this Autumn, Liu said "China welcomes officials from the US Department of Defense, including Rumsfeld himself, to visit, and expects exchanges between the two sides can facilitate bilateral cooperation in military field, together with all other fields."

In another development, Liu said the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is willing to make exchanges with non-member countries and other international organizations.

Such exchanges will be beneficial to increasing mutual understanding and promoting cooperation, he said.

The issue concerning anti-terrorism will be a major topic during the SCO summit to be held in early July in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. Liu said this issue, as a major task of the SCO, has been discussed frequently by the organization at various levels, including state leaders, foreign ministers and senior officials of the SCO.

The SCO is also faced with another important task of enhancing economic cooperation, in a bid to promote regional development, he said.

"Combating the 'three evil forces' -- terrorism, extremism and separatism -- and encouraging economic and trade cooperation are two important elements driving the development of the SCO," he said.

The SCO, set up in June 2001, groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2005)