China explains snub of ships

BEIJING —  A Chinese government official said Thursday that his country’s last-minute cancellation of a U.S. Navy visit to Hong Kong was not the result of a misunderstanding, as Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi reportedly told President Bush on Wednesday.

Instead, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, it was because Sino-U.S. ties had been “disturbed and harmed” by the U.S. Congress’ tribute to the Dalai Lama and by American arms sales to Taiwan.

Congress awarded its highest civilian honor to the Dalai Lama last month. Though the Tibetan spiritual leader is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority, Beijing claims he seeks to destroy China’s sovereignty by pushing for Tibet’s independence.

Then, the Global Times, a tabloid published by the official party publication People’s Daily, cited an unidentified senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army as criticizing Washington’s decision to sell Taiwan an antimissile defense system.

That “obviously sent the wrong signals” to Chen Shui- bian, Taiwan’s pro-independence leader, the colonel was quoted as saying. China considers Taiwan a renegade province.

“At a time when the U.S. side is seriously harming China’s interests, there is no logic under heaven by which China should then be expected to open its heart and embrace it,” the paper said in its Thursday edition.