(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-24 23:02

China always takes a responsible and prudent attitude towards arms trade with strict control on weapons export, and conducts arms trade abiding by laws, regulations and international obligations, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Thursday.

"China cooperates with some countries on regular arms trade, which meets domestic policy, laws and regulations, resolutions of the UN (United Nations) Security Council and its international obligations. We will deal with some issues based on these principles," Jiang said at a regular briefing in response to question on the country's shipment of military items to Zimbabwe.

She said COSCO, the Chinese shipping company involved, had decided to give up the original plan to unload there and ship the cargo back to China due to Zimbabwe's inability to receive the goods.

The arms trade was normal trade, and the contract was signed last year and irrelevant to Zimbabwe's recent domestic situation, Jiang said. She voiced hope that relevant parties in Zimbabwe could properly handle the current dispute in order to maintain stability and development in the country.

"China would like to make constructive contributions to it," Jiang said.

In response to a question saying that some organizations in the United States and southern Africa criticized that selling weapons to Zimbabwe would cause unrest in the country, Jiang said it is unreasonable to politicize the issue.

"Some people in the United States always carp and cavil on some issues and try to act as international police, which is not welcomed by the world."

China and African countries maintain friendly relations with mutual understanding and supports, and any attempt to undermine the China-Africa friendship will never succeed, she said.

According to the latest statistics by the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China ranked 10th on the list of the world's biggest arms exporters. The United States ranked first and the United Kingdom sixth.

The statistics revealed the United States accounted for 30 percent of world arms trade volume while China was two percent.