Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said Wednesday the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international occasions are not appropriate for the Chinese mainland and Taiwan to talk about what he described as matters of China's internal affairs.

The mainland, as main body of China, and Taiwan, as a separate tariff zone of China, are now members of the world trade body, but issues between the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, including those on economic cooperation, are China's internal matters, which should be worked out by the two sides under the "one China principle", said the foreign minister.

"There is no need to resort to any international forums, WTO included," he said at a press conference sponsored by the Fifth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2002)