Beijing (AsiaNews) - French President Jacques Chirac arrived in Beijing on Saturday for a state visit amid controversy over his call for the European Union to lift a ban on arms sales to Beijing imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. Today Mr Chirac will meet  President Hu Jintao .

Mr Chirac, accompanied  by about 50 industrialists,  is pushing for a greater commercial presence for French firms in the large and fast-growing mainland market. His four-days visit will be focused on economic co-operation. In an interview in Paris, he said that within three years, he hoped to double the number of small and medium-sized French companies operating in China. He said France currently has more than 3,700 firms in the mainland.  Mr Chirac also will lobby for French participation in a high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai. French engineering giant Alstom is hoping China will choose its high-speed TGV trains for the project.

The trip includes the official start tomorrow of the Year of France in China event, which includes an exhibition of French Impressionist works  in Beijing.

Yesterday in Hanoi Mr Chirac repeated that  "France is in favour of lifting the embargo on China. Why? Because it is a situation which makes no sense in China today and which would have almost no consequences if the lethal arms embargo is removed and China naturally has no intention of importing those arms".

The New York-based group Human Rights in China said Chirac's comments "profoundly dishonor" Chinese who are still pressing their government to disclose the death toll and other details of the crackdown. "The bloody suppression of unarmed civilians in Beijing in 1989 cannot be considered a matter of 'another time' after 15 short years," the group said in a statement Saturday.

France and Germany, eyeing China's expanding military market, have pushed for the EU to lift its arms embargo. But other nations - led by the Netherlands and Sweden - have so far blocked efforts to lift the ban, citing continuing human rights concerns.

The U.S. are against the lifting of the arms embargo, citing concerns on human rights and  worries about Chinese attacks against Taiwan.

In March, Beijing announced that defence spending this year would jump 11.6% to $25 billion. Many experts think the real military spending is much higher. The Pentagon estimates that China actually spends between $50 billion and $70 billion. Mr Chirac said most European countries backed his view and a solution "could be adopted, in all cases, I hope, at the beginning of next year. This is the aim".