17/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - After his meeting in Beijing on Tuesday with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Li Xhaoxingu, the High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, told the press, as reported by AFP, that the EU was seeking to find a solution on the controversial issue of lifting the European embargo on arms sales to China, a solution that is compatible with the values that it defends. Mr Solana hoped the matter would be settled in order to improve relations between the EU and Beijing, but stressed that the EU does not want to "contribute to increasing arms in the region". The Chinese minister, for his part, described the embargo (which dates back to 1989 after the Tiananmen Square massacre) as a "vestige of the Cold War".