China has strongly objected to a US Congress resolution reaffirming its commitment to the "Taiwan Relations Act," which allows the United States to sell weapons to the island.

China has lodged a formal complaint to the United States about the US House of Representatives' resolution, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue.

The act was made by US House of Representatives in 1979 and aims to keep Taiwan with defense capabilities to rival the Chinese mainland.

Zhang said the unilaterally passed resolution openly violates Chinese sovereignty, and seriously interferes with China's internal affairs.

China is a peace loving country. Taiwan separatists' activities are a great threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.

Zhang Qiyue points out the resolution fabricates the so-called China threat and encourages sales of weapons to Taiwan as well as increasing the US military presence in Taiwan.

She says this will harm peace and stability in Taiwan, damage Sino-US relations and, in the end, will harm the United States' own interests.

The spokeswoman said the three joint Sino-US communiques are the political basis for relations between China and the United States, and the guiding principle for the handling of the Taiwan issue.

China has observed that the United States has repeatedly announced its insistence on the One China policy.

She called on the United States to live up to its commitment to the one-China policy to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and relations between China and the United States.

(CCTV.com, CRI.com July 18, 2004)