Beijing demanded the European Union lift a decades-old arms embargo, calling it "political prejudice against China". The weapons embargo is a form of political discrimination, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

"The discrimination does not go along with the current world trend and the development of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the EU. We hope the EU can make the political decision as soon as possible, immediately, unconditionally, and completely remove the arms embargo against China, so as to remove obstacles in the way of China-EU relations." Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.

During an exclusive interview with China Daily last week, Madrid's top envoy to Beijing revealed that Spain is considering proposing the EU lift the ban.