EU and China agree to strengthen defence ties

Senior officials from China and the European Union have made further efforts to strengthen bilateral defence ties during the third EU-China Strategic Dialogue held in Beijing on 9-10 July.

A statement by the Chinese Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Defence Minister Liang Guanglie and Catherine Ashton, the EU's chief of foreign affairs and security policy, have pledged to expand bilateral defence and security co-operation.

Liang said that China was keen to co-operate with the EU in achieving "continuous progress" in a range of defence activities, while Ashton noted that the strategic dialogue was an opportunity for the EU and China to deepen their defence "engagement".

Although the Chinese MoD did not elaborate on the details of the strategic dialogue, the talks would almost certainly have featured the military embargo that the EU and the United States have imposed on Beijing since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

While the US ban is governed by export controls legislation, the EU embargo is in the form of a "statement of common intent" and compliance is interpreted at a national level.