Henry Hyde, head of the international relations committee of the House of Representatives, dismissed assurances by the European Union that the embargo could be replaced by an improved code of conduct for arms sales.

"This is a moment when the voices of thoughtful Europeans need to be heard above those who are easily seduced by lucrative Chinese contracts," he said in a commentary in The Wall Street Journal.

"The choice for Europe could not be clearer: it is between policies that promote the development of democracy in China or those that support China's military buildup and threaten US security interests," he said.

Quoting William Gladstone, the illustrious politician who dominated British politics in the 19th century, Hyde said "nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right."

The House of Representatives earlier this month overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling on President George W. Bush to use his current European visit to urge leaders there to reconsider plans to lift the arms embargo.

Hyde, the Republican Representative for Illinois, said EU's security policy toward China "runs counter" to the advance of liberty and threatens US security interests, as well as those of Japan and Taiwan.

He noted that key European countries had already resumed arms sales to China at an "alarming pace" ahead of plans to terminate altogether the arms embargo, imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre that left hundreds dead.

"European arms technology will only enhance the complexity, reliability and lethality of China's growing arsenal," he said, suggesting Beijing could resolve the status of Taiwan and counter America's security posture in Asia elsewhere "with the threat or use of force."

Taiwan and China have been separately governed since a 1949 civil war, but Beijing insists the island is part of its territory awaiting to be reunited.

Citing the recent doubling in a one-year period of European arms sales to China to the tune of half a billion dollars, Hyde said he did not believe an improved European code of conduct for arms sales would be beneficial to the United States, as argued by major European nations.

"Further, since implementation of the code of conduct is left to member-states to interpret, the same thought process that is being applied to the embargo would flourish under a nonbinding code of conduct," Hyde said.

"In reality, these half-measures have all of the vitality of mortuary cosmetics and an equivalent purpose," he said.

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