BRUSSELS, Feb 22: President George Bush voiced "deep concern" on Tuesday about European plans to lift its 15-year arms embargo on China, as it emerged the EU is drafting a plan to try to allay Washington's fears.

"There is deep concern in our country that a transfer of weapons would be a transfer of technology to China which would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan," Mr Bush said after a NATO summit here. But he confirmed that his talks on the issue so far in Brussels on what he called his "listening tour" had been "constructive and open". He added the European Union appeared to be working on a plan to try to make lifting the 15-year-old embargo more palatable to Washington.

"I am told that they've heard the concerns of the United States, they are listening to the concerns of the administration ... they know the Congress is concerned and so they will try to develop a plan that will ease concerns," Mr Bush said.

But he added: "Whether they can or not, we will see." The European Union imposed a ban on exports of military hardware to China back in 1989, after the Tiananmen Square incident. It now wants to lift the embargo with an eye firmly on the booming Chinese economy, as China continues to open up to the West. But the United States fears that such a move will open the door to China getting new military know-how and firepower that would threaten Taiwan, and shift the strategic balance in East Asia.

Mr Bush confirmed he planned to raise the issue with the leaders of the 25-nation European Union after already discussing it with French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Chirac repeated a call to lift the arms ban, but added that the conditions for doing so should be worked out between the EU and the United States. Chirac said the ban "is no longer justified" but that it should be lifted "under conditions that Europe and the United States define together".

Earlier a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain and the other EU members were striving to allay the US jitters about the lifting of the embargo. "On China, we recognize that the United States has concerns, and along with our European partners we are working to address those concerns," the spokesman said.

"I think the Americans have said that they are here in listening mode on that issue," he said. "We welcome that. It is a question of 'discussions continue'." Mr Bush confirmed that the Europeans "think they can develop a protocol that shouldn't concern the United States and I said I'm looking forward to seeing.

"They need to make sure that if they do so that they sell it to the United States Congress. That the Congress will be making the decisions as to how to react to what will be perceived by some perhaps as a technology transfer to China." -AFP