BEIJING, Sept 16: China made “important progress” in relations with the United States in 2006 but problems remain on Taiwan, trade and human rights issues, state media said on Sunday, quoting a government report.

According to the foreign ministry’s annual diplomatic appraisal, due to be released during the coming week but cited by the Beijing News website, China-US relations “remained stable.” The brief news item gave no specifics nor explain why the reported progress had not significantly improved overall relations.

“The United States is still using issues such as human rights, religion, the Dalai Lama and Hong Kong to interfere with China’s internal affairs,” it quoted the document as saying.

China’s relations with the United States in the past year have been marred by a spate of economic and trade issues including product safety, China’s policy of keeping the yuan currency undervalued, and intellectual property rights.

The US has also voiced concern over Beijing’s military build-up, human rights abuses and its energy dealings with Iran.

China has also recently strongly opposed Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian’s plans for a referendum on seeking United Nations membership for the island.

Regarding its relations with Japan, the white paper insisted that the disputed Diaoyu Islands were part of China’s territory and said issues related to a disputed natural gas field in the East China Sea should be resolved through joint exploration.—AFP