March 21, 2002	Thursday	Muharram 6, 1423

BEIJING, March 20: China has starkly warned the United States that a “freezing wind” was chilling relations because of Washington’s policy towards Taiwan, putting at risk newly-improved bilateral ties.

Washington put good relations “in jeopardy” with a string of actions this month, most notably allowing Taiwan’s defence minister to attend a conference in Florida, Chinese media said.

“A freezing wind is blowing in China-US relations,” warned an angry and strongly-worded commentary by the official Xinhua news agency late Tuesday.

China has been enraged by the US decision to allow Taiw-an’s Defence Minister Tang Yao-ming to participate in an arms summit this month and to meet key US officials while in the US.

The US ambassador to Beijing has twice been called in for dressings down over the issue while a state-controlled newspaper reported Monday that China was preparing to cancel naval exchanges with the US in retaliation. However, the Xinhua commentary used perhaps the strongest language unleashed by China on the US since relations began improving following Beijing’s backing for the US-led war on terrorism.

Ties warmed still further during US President George W. Bush’s visit to Beijing last month, the article noted.

“However, since the beginning of March, what the US government has done with regard to bilateral ties is putting them in jeopardy with its erroneous move,” it thundered.

“The US government must correct this serious mistake and put up no new barriers to the development of China-US relations.”

The commentary condemned a recently-leaked US review of its nuclear arms policy listing China as a potential target and Taiwan as the likely flashpoint.

“These perfidious acts by the US side... interfere in China’s internal affairs and represent a provocation to the Chinese people.”

IT ADDED: “Today, certain Americans should learn from history and not do to others what you do not want done to yourself — as the old Chinese proverb goes. Some ‘hawks’ in the US, however, are bent on acting in a diametrically opposite way — to do to others what you do not want done to yourself. What is the logic?”

Analysts have warned that while relations appear to have improved in recent months, Beijing and Washington remain at odds over a series of issues, notably Taiwan, and that the strain was bound to show sooner or later.—AFP