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.