China faults U.S. arms sales to Taiwan

Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen

BEIJING, China -- A top China official blames Taiwan's refusal to accept Chinese terms for talks and U.S. arms sales to the island for the cross straits tensions.

Just a week before Qian Qichen is to make a key trip to the United States, the China Daily quoted the vice premier as saying the "root cause of the current tensions" lay in Taipei.

"The one-China principle can neither be evaded nor blurred," he said.

While criticising Taipei for not meeting China's conditions for starting formal talks, Qian has also pointed at the United States, which has provided arms to Taiwan in the decades since the Communists won the Chinese civil war in 1949.

"The Taiwan issue is not only a problem left over by China's civil war, it is also the result of U.S. military intervention as the United States has kept selling advanced weapons to Taiwan," Qian said.

Qian's comments followed a blunt warning by Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Tuesday of the "serious danger" of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Blocking fresh U.S. arms sales to Taiwan is a key purpose of Qian's March 18-24 trip to the United States. Beijing is alarmed at signs the new George W. Bush administration will sell Taipei billions of dollars worth of high-tech weaponry.

Bush decision looms

Bush must make a decision in April on Taiwan's weapons shopping list.

Last year, the administration of President Bill Clinton declined to sell Taiwan Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles and Aegis radar systems.

Qian, who will discuss overall relations and become the first senior Chinese official to meet Bush, was also quoted as reiterating the flexible stance on Taiwan policy he unveiled in January.

"What we adhere to is one China that embraces the mainland and Taiwan," he said.

Beijing had previously held that the "one China" could only mean the communist People's Republic of China -- an idea rejected by the island of 23 million people that has evolved into a feisty democracy over the past decade.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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