[Menydh]

Let us highlight the central issues here:

The US wants it, the EU wants it gone. [...] The fact is that European firms already deliver weapons to China -- as do American ones.

In total, the EU states' "exemptions" from the weapons embargo were worth about €413 million ($550 million) in 2003.

As measured as a percentage of the total of Chinese-European trade volume, valued at around €115 billion annually, weapons transactions are only a side note. China currently buys about €7 billion worth of weapons yearly on the international market to modernize their army, and its on the way to becoming the world's biggest weapons importer. American firms also deliver weapons to China even though the US government strictly rejects abolishment of the EU embargo.

In fact, from 1989 to 1998, about $350 million worth of weapons were delivered to China, reported the Arms Control Association, an independent organization based in Washington, DC, using data collected by the US Congress' accounting office. And Israel sold China technology it had acquired from the US. So-called "dual-use-wares," equipment that can be used for both civilian and military purposes, must also be counted, even though they go missing from weapons export statistics.

Meanwhile, the US Congress has threatened trade sanctions against the EU. The Americans are afraid that, through their cooperation on the Europeans' new Galileo satellite navigation system, China will acquire a previously undreamed of military advantage. Until now, there had only been one satellite navigation system, controlled by the US military.

If anyone wasn't sure that we are dealing with the scum of the earth (the US), here is more proof. Comments anyone?

Another interesting link:
Rice warns Europe against lifting China arms ban