The National Transitional Council has agreed to uphold agreements with China made before the fall of Moamer Kadhafi, Beijing said Tuesday, a day after recognising the NTC as Libya's government.

China, which has substantial investments in Libya, had long helped prop up the Kadhafi regime before the uprising began, and was the last permanent member of the UN Security Council to formally recognise the NTC.

"The NTC has agreed to abide by the one-China policy and all the treaties and agreements with China," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

The policy on the sensitive issue of Taiwan says that there is only one China, which Beijing has the right to rule, despite the island's self-government since the end of a civil war in 1949.

Earlier this month, Beijing called on Libya's new rulers to guarantee Chinese business interests in the north African country, after suggestions the Libyans could give preferential treatment to Western countries that supported the uprising.

China opposed NATO airstrikes which boosted the progress of the rebellion, and has said the UN should lead post-war reconstruction.

The Asian giant has invested billions of dollars in rail, oil and telecoms in Libya, and has commercial and strategic reasons for not wanting Western countries to exert too much influence there.

Libya produced about 1.6 million barrels of oil per day before the rebellion broke out, but output has since slowed to a trickle.

Since the fall of Tripoli last month, NTC forces have advanced dozens of kilometres (miles) west towards Kadhafi's home town of Sirte, which remains in the hands of his loyalists, and have moved to secure the vital oil infrastructure on which post-war reconstruction plans depend.

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