China urges U.S. help in blocking Taiwan vote

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States stressed on Thursday that it opposes Taiwan plans to hold a referendum on U.N. membership, while China urged Washington to help oppose the vote that it calls a dangerous provocation.

Speaking before regular high-level talks with China, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte pointedly criticized the vote planned for March in which Taiwan's independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian wants approval to seek U.N. 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 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

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

Negroponte made the remarks ahead of two days of talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo that will cover Taiwan and other diplomatic hotspots, including North Korea and Iran.

China indicated that Taiwan remains its top worry and it wants Washington efforts to help stifle Chen's plans for the vote alongside presidential elections on the island.

Both Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi raised the referendum when meeting Negroponte on Wednesday, the Communist Party's official People's Daily said.