A leading human rights NGO says that removing Chinese missiles targeted at Taiwan would "go a long way" towards convincing the EU to lift its arms embargo against China.
The embargo has been in place since 1989 following the Tiananmen Square disturbances.
A spokesman for EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told this website that despite improved relations between the EU and China "the time was not yet right" to even consider lifting the ban.
But Willy Fautre, of the respected Brussels-based NGO, Human Rights Without Frontiers International, said that removing the estimated 1,500 missiles currently targeting Taiwan "would go a long way" towards meeting the conditions for the embargo to be lifted.
Beijing insists that Taiwan is part of its territory and has not ruled out the possibility of using military force to integrate its small neighbour across the Taiwan straits into mainland China. It has consistently refused to remove the missiles.
Fautre said, "There is no doubt that the Taiwan issue is one of the main reasons the EU continues to maintain its embargo against China.
"If these missiles which are aimed at Taiwan were removed that would, I believe, go a long way towards convincing the EU that the time is right to consider lifting the arms embargo."
He added, "Taiwan rightly continues to feel threatened and intimidated by these missiles and the time has come to remove them."
His call has been endorsed in the past by senior MEPs like Graham Watson and Edward McMillan-Scott.
China's ambassador to the EU, Song Zhe, recently said in a speech in Brussels that the embargo was an "absurd discrimination" against his country.
A source at China's embassy echoed his sentiments, saying that Beijing would continue to press for the embargo to be lifted.
