Berlin, March 23 (CNA) The 25-state European Union will not address in the first half of this year the issue regarding a proposal to lift the ban on arms sales to China, German officials said Thursday.
The officials made the remarks ahead of the opening of a two-day E.U. summit meeting in Brussels that will run through Friday.

According to the German officials, the China arms ban issue is not on the agenda for the ongoing E.U. summit. Moreover, they said, the issue is not expected to be tackled during Austria's E.U. rotating presidency in the first half of this year.

Germany and France were originally keen to push for the removal of the ban on arms sales to China imposed by the E.U. after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in which Chinese troops brutally killed unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators.

But since new German Chancellor Angela Merkel took office last November, Germany has changed its position on the issue. The German government no longer pressures the E.U. to remove the ban. Many party caucuses in the German Bundestag or parliament are now even planning to come up with a motion to demand the E.U. not to lift the sales ban.