NEW DELHI – China’s new law authorizing military force against Taiwan could make Europe think twice about selling new weaponry to the Chinese, Secretary of State Rice said yesterday.

Ms. Rice, in Asia for talks this week, also said she will not let North Korea play America and its allies against each other in an attempt to hang onto its nuclear weapons program.

She has a long agenda in Beijing later this week, a visit made more delicate by China’s decision to codify a threat to attack Taiwan if the island declares independence. The Bush administration criticized the move, and Ms. Rice said she will discuss it with Chinese leaders.

Ms. Rice said the law may make European nations reconsider resuming weapons sales that were suspended after the deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square. So far, America has been unable to persuade the European Union to continue the embargo, despite a major diplomatic offensive from Ms. Rice.

The Bush administration says more and better weaponry for China would upset the region’s security balance, and could mean America might face improved Chinese firepower if forced to defend Taiwan from a mainland attack.

“The Europeans … know very well our views on the arms embargo, that this is not a time to end the arms embargo,” Ms. Rice told reporters en route to India, the first stop on her one-week trip. “I would hope it would at least remind the Europeans that there are still serious security issues in this region.”

Ms. Rice may use her visits to India and Pakistan to discuss new sales of F-16 fighter planes to the neighboring, rival countries. They have fought three wars since their 1947 independence from Britain. A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no announcement of new weapons sales was expected during the trip.

America has built solid relationships with both countries, in part because of their cooperation in the war on terrorism, Ms. Rice said. That “has helped the two states to have good relations with each other.”

Ms. Rice will make her first trip to Afghanistan before stops in East Asia, and said she will raise American demands for democratic or human rights reforms at every stop, including Beijing.

Taiwan and China split in 1949, but Beijing considers the democratic, self-ruled island to be Chinese territory. Beijing has threatened repeatedly to attack if Taiwan tries to make its de facto independence permanent.