China says it's a responsible exporter of weapons

BEIJING, June 13 (Reuters) China today rejected an Amnesty International report that accused it of selling arms to an array of human rights abusers and said it took a responsible attitude toward military exports.

London-based Amnesty said in a report this week that China was selling arms to an array of human rights abusers such as Sudan and Myanmar to extend its trade and diplomatic reach.

''The accusations in the relevant report are groundless and do not square with the facts,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news conference. ''China adopts a responsible attitude toward military exports.'' Jiang said China exported far fewer weapons than other countries, amounting to 1.44 billion dollars between 2000 and 2004, one 20th of US arms exports over the same period.

The Amnesty report said China was becoming one of the world's top exporters of guns, anti-riot equipment and conventional weapons, and its customers included governments that routinely use such arms against their own citizens.

Amnesty said Beijing had a ''dangerously permissive approach to licensing arms exports'' and its ''routine export'' of conventional weapons and small arms had contributed to human rights violations, including in brutal armed conflicts.

Jiang said China only exported to countries which had the capacity to absorb the weapons, adding that Beijing would never interfere in the internal affairs of another nation.

Since the 1990s, China has issued regulations governing arms shipments abroad, requiring that the weapons are for ''self-defence'' of the customer country and do not threaten regional peace and security.

Amnesty International said those regulations were vague and often ignored by China's weapons-making conglomerates.

REUTERS SHB VV1551