Continuous Arms sales to Taiwan will cause damage to China-US relations and put at risk US interests in east Asia, where the American businesses have grown fast in the past 10 years, a Chinese official warned in Washington on Wednesday.

"Arms sale is a political issue. It would not only hurt US-China relations, but also hurt US interests in that region... To plough in such a hot spot could be explosive at any time, eventually hurt bilateral relations as well as US interest itself," said Zhou Mingwei, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) under the Chinese State Council.

Zhou, who is leading the first cabinet-level delegation to visit the United States since President George W. Bush took office in January, said that the present situation is quite different from that of 10 years ago as a great number of American companies have taken roots in China to set up local corporations or joint ventures.

With China going to enter into the World Trade Organization, a growing number of American business corporations will make long- term investments in the country, and therefore a more "peaceful and stable" climate in the whole region is needed, Zhou told a press conference at the Chinese embassy.

He described as "cold-war mentality" the notion that provision of arms to Taiwan can keep the military balance and result in peace. "Militarization in the region will not lead to a peaceful solution... it is very counter-productive and contradictory to the long-term interest of China-US relations," he added.

The official made the remarks just before Taiwan and the United States are to kick off their annual arms sales conference in Washington DC in April. The Taiwanese authorities are trying hard to secure, among many other weapons, several Aegis destroyers, which have advanced equipment capable of intercepting incoming missiles. The Bush administration, however, is still weighing the consequences and has not yet given approval to the transaction thus far.

Zhou said that it is China's intention to achieve a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue in every possible way. However, "you can't simply talk about peace without talking about reunification... and you can't talk about having different systems without recognizing (there is only) one nation," he emphasized.

Zhou reaffirmed Beijing's strong opposition to any referendum in Taiwan on the island's future. That kind of referendum, he stressed, "has no legal basis," because the sovereignty of Taiwan belongs to China and the Chinese people as a whole, and the majority will support reunification rather than separation of the Chinese territory of Taiwan.

The Chinese delegation, which arrived in New York City on February 18 for a two-week visit to the United States, have met with a string of Bush administration senior officials as well as some lawmakers.

Members of the delegation also compared notes with experts from a variety of think-tanks and with many overseas Chinese groups on a wide range of issues of common concern.

Referring to the official talks, Zhou said, "both sides have seriously and carefully listened to each other, frankly exchanged their views, ideas, advice and proposals. The overall atmosphere is very sincere."

The delegation left here Wednesday afternoon for San Franscico, where Zhou is expected to solicit opinions on China's reunification from local Chinese communities, including a group of young high-tech tycoons with Chinese background such as Jerry Yang, the Yahoo founder, in Silicon Valley.

Zhou gained his Master degree in the State University of New York at Albany in 1987 and conducted research work twice as Fulbright Scholar in the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard, in the 1990s.

(Xinhua 03/01/2001)