Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhu Bangzao made the remarks when commenting on a report that said the Buddhist association of Taiwan would invite the Dalai Lama to visit the island on March 31.

"It is the common aspiration of all Chinese people to safeguard national unity and realize the reunification of the motherland,'' Zhu said, "And all attempts against the trend will not work.''

He said China is concerned that US Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to Taiwan as the `Republic of China' in a recent speech.

Zhu said it is common knowledge that there is only one China and that Taiwan is a part of China; the government of the People's Republic of China is the only government representing China.

"China expressed great concern and dissatisfaction with the use of the term `Republic of China' by Colin Powell,'' Zhu said.

"The US side stressed it was a pure slip of the tongue and it does not indicate any change in the one-China policy.''

"We hope the US side will make sure this kind of incident does not happen again,'' the spokesman said.

Zhu reaffirmed China's stance on opposing the US sale of advanced weapons and equipment, including the AEGIS missile destroyer and Patriot III anti-missile system, to Taiwan.

If the US side insisted on the sale it would violate China's sovereignty, aggravate tensions across the Taiwan Straits and jeopardize Sino-US relations.

(China Daily 03/14/2001)