Ending the European Union's arms embargo on China is likely to create tensions between Europe and Washington, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in an interview published Wednesday. Several EU members, including Britain, France and Germany, are lobbying for the 15-year-old embargo, imposed after Beijing's bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, to be lifted. Straw said last week he expects the embargo to end within the next six months. But the United States is strongly opposed, arguing that an increase in arms sales could endanger the security of Taiwan. In an interview with the Financial Times, Straw was asked whether the issue could create further tensions between Washington and the European Union after those surrounding the Iraq war. "The challenge in terms of foreign policy is not to eliminate differences or franchise out policy but to manage those differences," Straw was quoted as saying. "The presentational problem we have in Washington is that people read the headline 'They've lifted the embargo' and it then takes time to explain that the embargo has very limited application," said Straw, who embarked Tuesday on a tour to Japan and China. --more 1509 Local Time 1209 GMT
