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China hits out at US over Taiwan criticism

BEIJING: China on Thursday bluntly rejected U.S. criticism of its new military threat to Taiwan as "crude interference", and said the issue should not be linked to its efforts to join the World Trade Organisation.

"We express strong dissatisfaction and resolutely oppose this crude interference in China's internal affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said.

"Taiwan is purely an internal matter of China," Zhu told a regular news conference. "Taiwan is an indivisible part of Chinese territory."

Washington expressed its "grave concern" over a threat by China on Monday to use miliary force against Taiwan if the island indefinitely delayed opening talks on reunification.

Previously, China had threatened force under only two scenarios -- if Taiwan declared independence or if there was a foreign invasion of the island.

The threat, issued in a cabinet policy "white paper", has endangered Congressional support for granting China so-called permanent normal trade relations (NTR) as part a deal to bring Beijing into the WTO.

But Zhu said China "firmly opposes any attempt to link these issues".

"We view the white paper and the issue of NTR as two entirely separate issues," he said.

The timing of China's new threat could hardly have been worse for the Clinton administration, which is trying to steer NTR through a Republican-led Congress suspicious of China and packed with friends of Taiwan.

Leaders of the powerful U.S. Senate Finance Committee said on Wednesday a WTO trade deal with China was in peril as a result of Beijing's threat.

Committee Chairman William Roth, a Delaware Republican, said Senate support for the trade agreement was no longer "a foregone conclusion".

"The reckless threat to use force against Taiwan over the future of cross-straits relations and the recurring human rights violations will necessarily affect the Senate's consideration of the agreement," Roth said.

Republican congressional leaders expect Congress to vote on permanent NTR by August.-Reuters