Sino-American row worsens

Sino-American row worsens

BEIJING (Reuter): China yesterday threatened new reprisals
unless Washington rescinds its decision to allow a visit by
Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, saying reunification with the
Nationalist-ruled island outweighs Sino-United States ties.

"If the United States does not return to the correct
course...the Chinese side would make further response," Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang told a regular weekly
news briefing.

Shen declined to say what the response would be, only that it
hinged on further development of the situation.

"The consequences would be grave and would seriously harm
Sino-U.S. relations," Shen said.

China has canceled the May 30-31 U.S. visit of State
Councillor Li Guixian to protest Washington's decision to let Lee
attend a June reunion at his alma mater Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York.

Beijing says the trip undermined a longstanding U.S. policy of
"one China".

On Tuesday China abruptly recalled its air force commander and
his delegation from the U.S., slashing the final four days from
their 11-day visit.

A meeting of Chinese and American lawyers scheduled to be held
in Beijing and Shanghai from June 9-18 has been postponed
indefinitely, a spokesman for the All China Lawyers' Association
said. He gave no reason.

Shen said reunification of China and Taiwan was more important
than Sino-U.S. relations.

"We have consistently attached importance to Sino-U.S.
relations, but for us, safeguarding the country's sovereignty and
realizing reunification of the motherland is the priority," Shen
said.

Beijing and Taipei have competed for international recognition
since 1949, when the Nationalists were routed by the communists
in the Chinese civil war and took refuge on the offshore island.

Both sides say they espouse reunification but disagree on the
terms.

Shen said he was confident China's other diplomatic allies
would not follow in the footsteps of the U.S. and allow Lee to
visit.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said
the U.S. had no intention of rescinding the visa for Lee and that
it would continue to try to keep U.S.-China relations on a stable
course.

Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing from
Taipei in 1979, and had maintained an informal ban on visits by
top Taiwan officials so as not to antagonize China, which regards
Taiwan as a renegade province.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen strongly protested the
planned visit to U.S. Ambassador Stapleton Roy in Beijing on
Tuesday and called for Washington to reverse its decision.

Meanwhile,in Korea, China has told South Korea that allowing
Taiwan's president to visit Seoul before the president of China
could cause trouble between them, a Seoul ruling party official
said yesterday.

"Chinese embassy officials have recently told us that it could
cause trouble between the two countries if Taiwan President Lee
Tung-hui's visit to Seoul is made ahead of President Jiang
Zemin's visit," the official at the Democratic Liberal Party
(DLP) said.

The official, who did not want to be identified, said Li
Shuzheng, head of the external liaison department of the Chinese
Communist Party, brought up a similar issue during his trip to
Seoul in March.

Seoul provoked angry protests from Taipei when it switched its
diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1992 but the two
sides have exchanged representative offices, which issue visas
and promote trade and other relations.