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China blasts US, vows

to continue N-tests

TOKYO: Chinese President Jiang Zemin attacked the United States saying Washington was to blame for strained bilateral ties and said Beijing would not stop nuclear testing, a Japanese daily reported on Sunday.

In an interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Jiang said that the "full blame (for deteriorating ties) lay with the United States".

Ties with Washington have been seriously strained over Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui's visit to the United States in June and China's detention of U.S. human rights activist Harry Wu.

Beijing has sharply criticised Washington for allowing Lee's private trip, claiming it was a violation of U.S. policy to only recognise one China. Washington has reaffirmed its one-China policy in a bid to reassure Beijing.

China resumed nuclear testing on May 15 provoking worldwide protests. Japan and other nations have been closely watching whether Beijing planned to conduct more tests.

Jiang said that China did not plan to stop tests until a global treaty banning nuclear blasts goes into effect.

The Asahi Shimbun quoted the Chinese leader as saying Beijing "will stop (nuclear tests) after the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) goes into effect".

The CTBT is now being negotiated for possible conclusion in 1996.

Jiang told the Japanese daily China's nuclear tests are not targeted at, or are meant to threaten, any country.

He also said that China would not renounce the use of force against Taiwan, claiming that such a pledge would prevent the island's peaceful reunification with the mainland.

Beijing has viewed Taiwan as a renegade province since the defeated Nationalist government fled to the island in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists.-Reuter