China denied in Beijing Friday a report that accused China of being the largest arms supplier to Sudan, saying its policy on arms sales was "always highly prudent".

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement that China always strictly abided by the relevant resolutions made by the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) and never exported weapons to any country or region under the UN arms embargo.

His remarks were in response to a report by Human Rights First, a US-based rights group, that accused China of being the largest weapon supplier to Sudan.

The conventional weapons China exported to Sudan were very limited in number. They only accounted for a small proportion of the country's arms imports, Qin said, criticizing the report as "groundless" and "with ulterior motives".

According to its arms sales regulation, China never sold arms to any non-state entity, and it limited the functions and numbers of arms exports to other countries. All exported arms had user certificates and could not be exported to a third country.

The UN and the international community has not yet set an arms embargo or regulations on Sudan.

According to figures released by the US Congressional Research Service in September, the United States remained the world's largest seller of conventional arms to developing countries in 2006 with 36 percent of the total.

It was followed by Russia with 28 percent, Britain 11 percent, Germany 6 percent and China 3 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2008)