The European Union is moving towards introducing legally binding rules on weapons exports inastep intended to defuse criticism of plans to lift its arms embargo on China.

At a weekend EU meeting in Luxembourg, Michel Barnier, France's foreign minister, said he could agree to proposals to give legal force to the EU's code of conduct on arms sales. France, one of Europe's biggest arms exporters, has been reluctant to make the export code legally binding. But pressure has increased recently, as the US has stepped up its campaign against the lifting of the Chinese embargo.