China on Thursday asked the United States to avoid damaging bilateral relations further and also said it would not change its decision to suspend the planned mutual visits between the Chinese and U.S. militaries after the U.S. arms sale to Taiwan in late January.

China had decided to suspend scheduled visits between the Chinese and U.S. armed forces, in response to Washington's plan to sell an arms package worth about 6.4 billion U.S. dollars to Taiwan. The Taiwan issue is a core concern to China.

China also said it would impose sanctions against those U.S. companies involved in the arms sale.

"The U.S. arms sale to Taiwan seriously threatens China's national security, damages China's core interests, greatly disturbs the relations between the two countries and the two militaries, and tremendously harms overall China-U.S. cooperation as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," said Defense Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping in a statement.

"Therefore, China has decided to suspend the planned visits between the Chinese and U.S. militaries. Our position has not changed," said Huang, without specifying exact visits.

"We demand the U.S. side fully respect China's core interests and security concerns," he said.

The U.S. arms sale has cast a shadow over the military relations between China and the Untied States, which have seen a warming since U.S. President Barack Obama took office.

The two militaries had been expected to launch more exchanges in 2010, including U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' visit to China and warship visits from both sides. Gates said this week that he still planned to visit China later this year.

But media reports quoted Pentagon officials as saying that China has postponed planned visits to the United States by its chief of General Staff, as well as by one of its top regional military commanders. A planned visit to China by the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command has also been put off.

The Chinese military has not confirmed the reports.

"The U.S. side should bear full responsibility for the current difficult situation regarding China-U.S. military exchanges," Huang said.

Meanwhile, Huang said China "is deeply concerned" with a January report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), attached to the Pentagon. The report to the Congress indicates that Taiwan's military combat capability has been affected by the poor condition of its fighter jets.

There were reports saying that the U.S. Congress would now push the Pentagon to sell advanced C/D versions of the F-16 fighter jets to the island which has been seeking such a deal without success for some time.

"We demand the U.S. side speak and act cautiously in a bid to avoid further damage to the relationship between the two nations and militaries, and to the peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait," said Huang.

NO MILITARY LINK WITH HACKER ATTACK

Huang said that linking the recent reported cyber attacks to the Chinese government and military was groundless.

The New York Times has filed several reports in the last month claiming the cyber attacks on Google and other American firms last year have been traced to Shanghai Jiaotong University and privately-run Lanxiang Vocational School (Lanxiang) in east China's Shandong Province.

In the latest report, the New York Times insisted that Lanxiang had ties with the Chinese military, claiming it was founded on land donated by the army and had sent graduates to join the army.

"The intention to connect the cyber attacks with the Chinese government and the military is both irresponsible and calculated to create hype," said Huang.

Google said last month that it might pull out of the Chinese market, citing its services had been hacked by sources originating in China and that it disagreed with some Chinese government policies.

"In the wake of the Google incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokespersons have time and again made clear China's stance," said Huang, "China's information network, especially the part run by the military has always fallen victim to hacking attacks from overseas."

Huang reiterated that China's law bans all forms of hacking.

"Chinese government attaches great attention to combating cyber crime and is committed to improving cooperation in this regard with other countries and international organizations," Huang said.