Rice hopes Europe will keep arms from China

NEW DELHI — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, beginning a six-nation Asian tour, said on Tuesday that she hoped a new Chinese law approved this week authorizing an invasion of Taiwan if the island seeks independence would dissuade Europe from resuming arms sales to China.

"I hope it will remind the Europeans that there are still tensions in the region," she said, speaking to reporters on her plane. "It is not a time to end the embargo."

Europe wants to lift its arms embargo, which was imposed in 1989 after China's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.

European leaders say that would be an important way to improve business and political relations with China. But during President Bush's visit to Europe last month, he made it clear he opposed that idea.

Rice intends to visit China near the end of a trip that is also taking her to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Japan and South Korea.

A primary mission during the latter part of the trip, to East Asia, is to discuss new strategies for persuading North Korea to rejoin the six-nation talks over North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

And while China is lobbying for arms sales from Europe, the Bush administration is also heavily dependent on China in its effort to get the North Korean disarmament talks restarted. China is North Korea's only important ally.

The talks are stalled; some analysts say they are dead. The parties have not met since last June, and Tuesday, North Korea threatened to increase the size of its nuclear arsenal, "to cope with the extremely hostile attempt of the U.S. to bring down" the North Korean government, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Visiting China last April, Vice President Dick Cheney urged Beijing to press North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms, saying "time is not necessarily on our side." Since then, North Korea has announced that it has one or more nuclear weapons and has threatened never to return to disarmament talks of any kind.

Asked about North Korea's latest statement, Rice said she would not try to get inside the psyche of the leaders in Pyongyang but added that the latest statement was intended to distract attention from the demands to return to the talks.

"I don't think the North Koreans should be allowed to change the subject," she said.