In a policy document on arms control approved by its cabinet on Sept. 1, China warned that supplying anti-ballistic missile defenses to Taiwan would be destabilizing and was firmly opposed by Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The new document singled out the proposed American supply of six batteries of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles, intended to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles. Taiwan has already put into service three US-made PAC-2 anti-missile systems to protect the greater Taipei area, but has called for more help from the United States.

"As the Taiwan question involves its core interests, China opposes the attempt by any country to provide help or protection to the Taiwan region of China in the field of missile defense by any means," it states.

"China does not wish to see a missile defense system produce negative impact on global strategic stability ... erode trust among big powers or undermine legitimate security interests of other countries."

But at the same time, the document restated China's policy that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

Doubts had been raised by remarks made by Gen. Zhu Chenghu on July 14 to journalists in Hong Kong, in which he said China had no hope of prevailing in a conventional war with the United States.

China should therefore withdraw the "no-first-use" pledge and use nuclear weapons should the United States attack the mainland in a conflict over Taiwan.

Coming a week before Chinese President Hu Jintao is due to meet President Bush in Washington, the document may signal a new effort to find a compromise on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the Melbourne Age newspaper reported from Beijing.

Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, used a visit to Bush's Texas ranch in October 2002 to float the idea that China could reduce its array of missiles along the Taiwan Strait if Bush dropped his 2001 offer to supply the island with missiles, submarine-hunting aircraft, advanced destroyers and conventional submarines.

That approach went nowhere, but Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian is struggling to get a funding bill for the arms deal through the legislature, which is controlled by parties opposed to a rearmament they feel could reinforce moves for permanent separation from China.

Last week, the Taiwan Government said it would trim the proposed special arms budget to $11 billion from $15 billion, in an effort to push the bill through.

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