Li told reporters after meeting with Powell at the State Department that China was "firmly opposed to the sales of weapons by any foreign country to Taiwan, which is a part of China."

Powell, speaking alongside Li, reminded his Chinese counterpart of "our obligations under our domestic law," stressing that US arms sales were solely for Taiwan's self defense.

Li described the particular US law -- the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 -- as an anamoly, saying "I wish to point out that in any country, its domestic law should not go above its international commitments."

But Powell countered that there was nothing inconsistent about the law, passed by Congress 25 years ago.

The law makes clear the United States would defend Taiwan should it be attacked and provides arms "of a defensive nature" to Taiwan so it can "maintain a self-sufficient defence capacity."

The United States remains the leading arms supplier to Taiwan even though it moved diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Despite its legal obligation to provide weapons to Taiwan, Washington acknowledges Beijing's position that Taiwan should be considered an integral part of China.

Li and Powell were forced to address the prickly arms issue at a news conference when Li was asked to comment on a controversial arms sales package offered by US President George W. Bush in April 2002 that could be effected in

The Taiwan cabinet recently approved plans to spend 610 billion Taiwanese dollars (18.2 billion US) on the package, which also includes eight US-built submarines and a fleet of submarine-hunting P-3C aircraft, over a 15-year period from 2005.

The deal will go to Taipei's parliament for approval towards the end of the year.

Arms sales to Taiwan have been the main obstacle to developing Sino-US relations, according to Chinese officials.

Beijing has constantly threatened to use force to reunify with the island, which it considers part of its territory, should the island seek independence.

Li made this clear again Thursday, saying China "will never ever allow anyone to use any means to separate Taiwan, which is a inalienable part of the Chinese territory, from the rest of our great motherland."

But he said China was also ready "to use our maximum sincerity and make our best efforts to realize a peaceful reunification of the country and find a peaceful solution to the Taiwan question."

China has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunified, by force if necessary, ever since the Communists won a civil war and drove the Nationalists into exile on the island in 1949.

Powell said they had a good conversation on arms sales to Taiwan and he told Li that US laws "in our judgment are not in any way inconsistent."

"And we always measure what is sold to Taiwan on the basis of what they need for their self-defense," he said.

Taiwan has always used the hundreds of ballistic missles in China targeting Taiwan as a basis for its arms purchases.

It has already put into service three US-made PAC-2 anti-missile systems to protect the greater Taipei area.

China's military spending has risen at an average double-digit rate over the past decade, hitting 24.5 billion US dollars in 2004.

Taiwan's defense outlays in 2004 were 264.1 Taiwanese dollars (7.76 billion after peaking in 1999 at 284.5 billion Taiwanese dollars.

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