China demanded Thursday in Beijing that the United States fully understand the damage that will result from U. S. arms sales to Taiwan, in particular at this critical juncture of both Sino-US relations and the relations across the Taiwan Straits.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao issued the warning at a regular press conference when asked to respond to a recently-issued US report on arms sales to Taiwan.

The report said that the US Department of Defense has officially notified Congress that the US is ready to sell Taiwan 162 Hawk anti-aircraft missiles and equipment needed to upgrade Taiwan's existing TPS-43F radar systems to TPS-75V. The deal is valued at about 200 million US dollars.

China is deeply concerned by the report and has lodged serious representation with the US, Zhu noted, calling on the US to "immediately stop all arms sales to Taiwan."

The Chinese government and people have always opposed the selling of advanced weapons from the United States to Taiwan, he added.

The spokesman said that the US government has already made sincere commitments to the Chinese government and people on the Taiwan issue. According to the commitments, the US will observe the principle of "one China," abide by the three Sino-US joint communiques and adhere to the "three Nos."

But the US "has time and again broken its own commitment by selling large quantities of advanced weapons to Taiwan," Zhu pointed out, describing the US acts as "a serious encroachment of Chinese sovereignty and a gross interference of China's internal affairs."

He also pointed out that such actions "will encourage the arrogant forces in Taiwan to split China and become an important source for the tension across the Taiwan Straits."

At the sametime, Zhu also urged the United States to consider its own interests and swiftly approve permanent normal trade relation (PNTR) status for China without any pre-conditions.

The Chinese government appreciates the efforts by the US government and businesses to urge the Congress to grant PNTR to China, he said.

"We believe that it's absolutely normal for countries to grant each other PNTR, but the United States has for a long time attached pre-conditions to granting normal trade relations to China by making annual appraisals, which has seriously affected bilateral trade relations," Zhu said.

The Chinese government insists that what the US is about to offer must be a "clear-cut and neat" PNTR -- with no conditional measures thrown in, he pointed out.

US businesses in China will be seriously hurt if the US fails to find a solution to this problem, Zhu warned, adding that the WTO accord the two countries signed in November 1999 would be meaningless without the US granting PNTR to China.

China has made active moves to implement the agricultural cooperation agreement signed by the two last December, by sending groups of experts to the US for research tours, Zhu said. Deputy Trade Minister Sun Zhenyu just finished his US tour, he added.

Zhu said that China welcomes the upcoming visits of US Secretary of Commerce William Daley and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, and that the two sides will exchange views on strengthening bilateral trade and getting PNTR for China.

Meanwhile, Zhu said China is firmly opposed to any separatist activities that might emerge in the wake of the Karmapa Buddha's leaving Tibet for India.

When asked to comment on the report that India has allowed the 17th Karmapa Buddha to stay in India, Zhu said: "I did not get the information from the Indian sources."

But the spokesman said he hoped that India will properly handle the issue on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence.

The Dalai Lama and some foreign forces have historically tried to manipulate the 17th Karmapa Buddha to reach their own objectives, Zhu said.

The 17th Karmapa left Tibet late last year for India. He left a letter claiming that the trip was aimed at retrieving black hats and musical instruments which belong to the Karmapa ancestors.