BEIJING, April 6: China has asked the United States for an explanation on why US President George W. Bush referred to Taiwan as a country during a speech last week in Washington, a Foreign Ministry official said on Saturday.

Reports in Taiwanese newspapers on Friday said Bush called the island the “Republic of Taiwan” and a “country” in an apparent slip of the tongue during a speech to diplomats and business executives on Thursday.

Calling Taiwan a country would threaten to compromise a major pillar of Sino-US relations, which were set up in 1979 largely based on a US nod to the “one China” principle, which states that Taiwan is a part of China.

“The Chinese side already asked the American side to give clarification on this,” said a foreign ministry official reached by telephone.

Taiwan’s United Daily News quoted a US official as saying Bush’s labelling Taiwan as a republic was a “slip of the tongue” and indicated no shift in US policy.

Bush was referring to the entry late last year and this year of China and Taiwan, respectively, into the World Trade Organisation, reports said.

The English-language Taipei Times newspaper quoted Bush as saying it was “important to recognise and to welcome both countries, both the Republic of Taiwan, and of course China, into the World Trade Organisation.”

The Taiwan issue has often caused rough patches in bilateral ties and US arms sales to Taiwan have angered Beijing.

Last month an editorial in the official China Daily newspaper said Beijing felt “betrayed” after a US decision to allow Taiwanese defence minister Tang Yiau-ming into the United States for talks with defence officials and warned of a setback in Sino-US ties.

But foreign ministry officials later confirmed both sides were moving ahead with plans for a scheduled visit by Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao to the United States in April.—Reuters