Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, while supporting French calls to end the 15-year-old ban, also said communist-ruled China would have to do more first on the human rights front.

China believes the EU will give a positive decision on the arms embargo in time, as well as on granting the country market economy status, Wen said after talks with Verhofstadt.

"I believe that the EU is looking at this question very positively, as are many of its members. That's why I have full confidence for a resolution to this problem," the Chinese premier told reporters.

But pressed on the human rights issue, Wen said: "I think that we shouldn't create links between lifting the embargo and conferring market economy status with other problems."

Verhofstadt said: "I indicated that, like many other members of the European Union, we should lift the embargo."

But China would have to first ratify the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and deepen political dialogue with the EU, "of which human rights forms an important part", the Belgian leader added.

Wen said China was "intensifying its preparations" to ratify the UN convention, which details the basic civil and political rights of individuals and nations.

The EU imposed the arms embargo after the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Under French-led pressure, the EU is reviewing the embargo but amid resistance from countries such as the Netherlands and Scandinavian members, the bloc is at least months away from a decision to lift the ban.

Chinese ratification of the 1976 UN convention is a key EU demand before the ban can be lifted, along with safeguards that European weapons could not be used for internal repression in China.

The Chinese premier is on an 11-day tour of Europe. Earlier Wednesday he met EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana in Brussels and on Thursday was due to hold talks with European Commission president Romano Prodi.

In his meeting with Verhofstadt, Wen signed an agreement to set up a 37-million-euro (45-million-dollar) fund to help small- and medium-sized Belgian companies do business in China.

The two leaders also signed a declaration to reinforce political dialogue between Belgium and China.

WAR.WIRE