BEIJING, Nov 29: The saga of a US aircraft carrier denied entry to Hong Kong at Thanksgiving took a bizarre turn on Thursday when China denied saying the whole affair had been a misunderstanding.

The White House had said on Wednesday Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had told President George Bush the incident was a misunderstanding.

China denied the USS Kitty Hawk, and eight accompanying ships, entry to Hong Kong for a long-planned visit during the US Thanksgiving holiday last week. China later changed its mind, but the ships were already heading for Japan, US officials said.

“Reports that Foreign Minister Yang said in the United States that it was a misunderstanding do not accord with the facts,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference.

“China approved the visit of the Kitty Hawk group to Hong Kong based on humanitarian reasons. The decision made by the US later was up to them.” He did not elaborate.

There has been speculation China’s move to block the ships was related to irritation over US plans to help Taiwan upgrade its missile system and a meeting between Mr Bush and exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

The White House said it was now seeking clarification from China due to conflicting accounts of the meeting with President Bush.

“The president’s understanding from the foreign minister was that there had been a misunderstanding and a miscommunication,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

“We are seeking clarification. Regardless, it was wrong for the ship to be turned away.”

But she said overall US relations with China were good and this was considered a small incident.

“The president believes we have good relations with China, we’ve worked cooperatively with China on so many different issues,” Ms Perino said.

“This is one small incident and in the big picture, in the big scheme of things, we have very good relations.”

The Pentagon called in China’s military attache on Wednesday to protest about the Kitty Hawk case and what it says was another incident, in which China denied access last week to two US Navy minesweepers seeking refuge from a storm.

US defence officials sought to put the disagreements behind them.

“This was an unfortunate incident, but we’re going to move past it,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

“We expect and are hopeful that we will continue to have a strong military-to-military relationship with the Chinese. We believe it’s important, not only in our national interest but in their national interest too.”

Adding to the confusion, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu earlier denied receiving a US complaint.

The dispute has come as a surprise just weeks after a visit to China by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates that has been described by US officials as positive. China-US relations have improved since 2001, when their militaries broke contact following a collision between a Chinese fighter jet and US spy plane.

But many differences remain over issues such as China’s military build-up and US weapon sales to Taiwan.—Reuters