Speaking after meeting European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, Rice singled out human rights issues and concerns about the regional military balance to justify US opposition to lifting the 15-year-old EU ban.

She said around 2,000 people arrested during the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989 remained behind bars.

Rice stressed also "the need to be concerned about the transfer of technology that might endanger in some way that very delicate military balance".

But she added at a joint news conference with Barroso: "I do believe that the Europeans are listening to our concerns.

"All that we can ask is that the European Union is aware of our concerns, and takes them fully into consideration for any decision that is made."

The EU appears set to lift the ban in the coming months, possibly before the end of June, with France in particular arguing that it is outdated.

But the details are still being worked out, notably over a self-imposed code of conduct to regulate EU arms sales to China.

Washington is worried that China would gain access to cutting-edge European technology to upset the balance in a region that is home to thousands of US troops and where Taiwan remains vulnerable to attack from its giant rival.

"We understand the US sensitivities in this regard," Barroso said.

"The European Union cannot be accused of rushing in this case. We are working to ensure that the code of conduct is designed to take account of that."

But the EU executive boss and Rice agreed that Europe and the United States share strategic goals with regard to China, both for instance having embraced its entry into the World Trade Organisation.

"We want to see a China that as it rises as an influencing factor in international politics, rises as a positive factor in international politics and the international economy," Rice said.

"So on the big issues about China, the US and EU could not be clearer about where we are going," she said.

"If there is an issue about the EU arms embargo on China, it too is understood in the context of a strategy that tries to get China to a positive place in the international community."

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