China Thursday urged the United States to stop interfering in
China's internal affairs via the Taiwan question and to strictly
abide by the three Sino-US joint communiques and the one-China
policy.
At
a regular press conference in Beijing Thursday, Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue was asked whether the recent visit of Tang
Yiau-ming, Taiwan's so-called "defence minister," will affect the
planned trip to the United States of Vice-President Hu Jintao.
Zhang said that Deputy Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing had made
"solemn representations" to the US side, fully explaining China's
position.
The US side should seriously consider China's stance by being fully
aware of the importance of the Taiwan question to relations between
China and the United States, Zhang said.
The spokeswoman told reporters that the Chinese naval fleet has
been preparing for a trip abroad but the fleet's schedule included
no United States harbours.
Zhang also responded to reports that Carl W. Ford, Junior -- the US
Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research -- claimed on
Tuesday that the Chinese army had advanced plans for chemical
warfare and that Iran was continuing to acquire chemical-weapons
materials, technology and equipment from China and Russia.
She said: "China possesses no chemical weapons and strictly adheres
to the Convention on Banning Chemical Weapons."
China has drafted a series of laws and provisions to strictly curb
the export of the relevant chemical materials, technology and
equipment with the aim of preventing them from being used for
chemical weapons, added Zhang.
The United States still possesses lots of chemical weapons that
have yet to be destroyed, so it is really irresponsible and
baseless for Washington to slander the Chinese side on the issue,
Zhang said.
Turning to the current session of the UN Commission on Human
Rights, Zhang said that China hopes the meeting will encourage
in-depth discussions between all countries on human-rights
issues.
However, China is opposed to human rights being made a political
issue.
The commission's annual session in the Swiss city of Geneva should
follow the principles of equality and mutual respect among all
countries in order to promote a wide and thorough exchange of views
on human rights issues of common concern, said Zhang.
She also said Chinese and Israeli officials will exchange in-depth
views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues
of common concern during the visit to China of Shimon Peres,
Israel's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, from March 24
to 26.
(China
Daily March 22, 2002)