China urged the United States to abide by its promises and continue to oppose any activities of the Taiwan authority aimed at Taiwan independence, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan Saturday.

Kong made the remarks when asked to comment on Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV's exclusive interview with US Secretary of State Colin Powell on the two questions proposed by Chen Shui-bian for the March 20 Taiwan referendum.

Chen Shui-bian, in the guise of peace and democracy, goes his own way to practice so called referendum, disregarding the essential good of Taiwan people and international objection, Kong said.

This is a unilateral provocation of the peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits and impairs relations of the two sides across the straits, he said, stressing that the essence of the Taiwan authorities' attempt is to pave the way for a referendum on independence.

"We firmly opposes Chen's activity to separate Taiwan from China," Kong stressed.

China has noticed US President George W. Bush's clear stance of adherence to the one-China policy, abiding by the three Sino-US joint communiques and opposing any word or activity of the Taiwan authority to change the status quo of Taiwan, and the US authority has reiterated this stance several times, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2004)