Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday urged the European Union to keep its embargo on arms sales to China, saying the purpose behind Beijing's growing defence spending was unclear, according to Reuters. Speaking after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, Abe said China's expanding economy was positive for the world. "But the lack of transparency in China's defence spending is an issue," he told a joint news conference with Merkel. "We are concerned about the implications that a lifting of the arms embargo would have on the security of East Asia." Japan and China have long been wary of each other's military ambitions, although Abe has been working to repair Sino-Japanese ties frayed by his predecessor's visits to a shrine Beijing considers a symbol of Tokyo's militaristic past. China has been asking the EU to lift the embargo on arms sales imposed after the bloody suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests by Chinese authorities in 1989. But the EU has expressed serious concern about Beijing's human rights situation and has been standing by conditions for lifting the ban.
