The European arms embargo against China, which allows countries such as France and the UK to export torpedoes, military electronics and chemical agents to Beijing, is obviously not entirely effective; European Union figures show weapons export licences to China nearly doubled to €416m (£288m) in 2003.

Yet the EU plan to lift the embargo has angered the Bush administration and Japan, Washington's increasingly assertive Asian ally. The US says ending the sanctions, imposed after China crushed pro-democracy protests in 1989, could endanger US forces in the Pacific and give Beijing an undeserved diplomatic reward.