Chinese embassy spokesman Sun Weide said at a rare press conference that Beijing was "gravely concerned" over recent US moves on the Taiwan question and warned that the situation was "quite critical" particularly over arms sales.

"We strongly urge the US side to stop selling advanced arms to Taiwan and cut the military links between the US and Taiwan," he said.

He also called for a halt to all US "official" exchanges with Taiwan authorities and a stop to US backing for Taipei's bid to join international organizations.

"Only in this way can the stable development of the China-US relations as well as the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait be guaranteed," Sun said.

The media conference in Washington comes just after US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's visit last week to Beijing during which the Taiwan issue hogged the agenda.

It shows that China is not convinced by Rice's assurances to Chinese leaders, including China's military strongman and ex-president Jiang Zemin, that Washington respects Beijing's "one China policy" and is opposed to Taiwan independence, observers said.

Under a 25-year-old US law, the United States acknowledges Beijing's position that Taiwan is part of China but is bound by law to provide weapons to help Taiwan defend itself if its security is threatened.

China has repeatedly threatened to invade Taiwan should the island declare formal independence. The two sides split in 1949 at the end of a civil war but Beijing regards the island as part of its territory.

Cross-strait tension has been escalating since pro-independence Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian took office in 2000 and since his re-election in March this year.

Sun stressed that the Taiwan issue "bears on China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity and is always the most important and sensitive issue in China-US relations.

"To address the issue properly is the key to the sound and stable development of China-US relations."

Sun also expressed "grave concern and dissatisfaction over recent irresponsible deeds and words by some US government officials and Congressmen" on China's management of Hong Kong affairs.

The United States this month reaffirmed its policy to push for greater democracy in Hong Kong after more than half a million people took to the streets of the Chinese-ruled territory to back calls for political reform.

More than 530,000 people protested on the seventh anniversary of the former British colony's return to Chinese control on Thursday to vent anger over Beijing's decision to deny the territory universal suffrage.

The United States is Hong Kong's second-largest trading partner.

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