Arms embargoes are specific embargoes that applied to arms trade.

This story takes a closer look at arms imports and embargoes in countries subject to European Union sanctions.

The countries explored in this piece are: China, Myanmar, Syria, North Korea and Iran.

Data is provided from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Following the government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the European Union announced an arms embargo against China.

This chart shows the flow of arms into China over the last several decades.

However, the European Union sanctions were not well-defined as to which types of arms would be subject to the embargo.

This chart shows that despite the embargo, arms still came from European Union countries over the last two decades.

Russia has been by far the most important supplier of arms to China since the embargo was imposed.

When countries do not follow the terms, embargoes are ineffective. Symbolic embargoes are often just as ineffective.

The European Union imposed an embargo on Myanmar in 1991 due to concerns about internal repression, regional instability and other human rights violations.

It was merely symbolic, because no European Union countries were exporting arms to Myanmar anyway.

Russia and China have been the main supplier of arms to Myanmar in recent years.

In the 1980s, Syria received most of its arms imports from countries in the Soviet bloc, especially Czechoslovakia. Arms imports fell dramatically at the end of the Cold War, until the years preceding the Syrian civil war.

The Eupean Union imposed an arms embargo just recently in 2011. But Russia continued to supply arms to the Assad regime.

Countries in the communist bloc supplied large quantities of arm to North Korea in the 1980s. But that largely ceased with the end of the Cold War.

In response to a claimed nuclear test by North Korea in 2006, the European Union imposed embargoes on North Korea. However, by the time the embargoes were imposed, almost all international arms exports to this pariah state had already ceased.

Due to concerns over Iran's nuclear program. The European Union imposed a full arms embargo in 2007.

Once again it was merely symbolic, no European Union countries were exporting arms to Iran anyway.

Arms embargoes have been utilized by the European Union for more than a decade. But in many cases, poor implementation and symbolic embargoes both resulted in ineffective arms sanctions.

This story does not include international black market arms trade.

Special thanks to Jeremy Rue, Richard Koci Hernandez, Peter Aldhous at UC Berkeley, Graduate School of journalism,
Casey Alt at Bitmark and KK Rebecca Lai at the New York Times for editing help.