China urges US help in blocking Taiwan vote

Beijing: The United States stressed on Thursday that it opposes Taiwan plans to hold a referendum on UN membership, while China urged Washington to help oppose the vote that it calls a dangerous provocation.

Speaking before regular high-level talks with China, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte pointedly criticised the vote planned for March in which Taiwan's independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian wants approval to seek UN membership under the name "Taiwan".

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that must accept reunification and calls the referendum a provocative bid to create formal independence for the island.

"From the perspective of the United States, the conduct of such a referendum is a mistake," Negroponte told reporters, echoing comments made in December by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"We think it is a provocative policy on the part of the Taiwanese authorities."