The French Foreign Ministry on Monday said France's support for the removal of the European Union's arms embargo on China remained "unchanged."

Asked whether there is any change in France's stance on the EU arms embargo, a spokesman for the ministry told a regular news conference that the embargo had become "obsolete" and the French stance on the removal of the embargo remained unchanged.

The embargo fails to reflect the current relationship between the EU and China and does not accord with the EU's policy of building a strategic partnership with China, he said.
France believes that it should work together with other partners to push for the removal of the EU arms embargo on China, the spokesman said.

The EU imposed its arms embargo on China in 1989. The 2004 EU summit in Brussels formally placed the issue of lifting its arms embargo on China on the EU agenda.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)