"BEIJING (Reuters) - China has urged the United States to stop selling advanced weapons to Taiwan, a move that sends the wrong signal to the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own, a Chinese deputy chief of general staff told a U.S. diplomat.

The U.S. Defense Department informed Congress last month about a possible sale to Taiwan of Patriot missile system upgrades valued at $939 million.

"We hope the U.S. side ... will stop selling advanced weapons to Taiwan, stop U.S.-Taiwan official engagement and military contacts and cooperation," Xinhua news agency on Friday quoted Ma Xiaotian, an air force lieutenant-general, as telling U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Washington on Wednesday.

Weapons sales send the wrong signal, emboldening the island to push for formal independence, Ma said.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since their civil war split in 1949 and threatened to use force if the island, which still styles itself as the Republic of China, formally declares statehood.

Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 under the principle that there can only be "one China" in the world, but is obliged by the Taiwan Relations Act to help the democratic island defend itself.

Ma hailed improved China-U.S. relations but urged the United States to "fully recognize (Taiwan President) Chen Shui-bian's 'Taiwan independence' nature and the severity of the current situation in the Taiwan Strait."

China has repeatedly asked the United States to help rein in an increasingly assertive Taiwan and thwart a contentious plan to hold a referendum next year on U.N. membership.

Chinese President Hu Jintao told his U.S. counterpart, George W. Bush, by telephone on Thursday the referendum was part of an intensified push by Taiwan for nationhood and a "grave threat and challenge" to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Taipei held China's U.N. seat until 1971 when the world body ousted it and admitted Beijing. Diplomatically isolated Taiwan has failed in successive re-entry bids over the past 15 years. Whatever the outcome of the referendum, Taiwan's bid is doomed because China has veto power on the U.N. Security Council.

In Taipei, the cabinet's policymaking Mainland Affairs Council condemned China for asking U.S. and European leaders to oppose the referendum.

"This crude method of China using international politics to seek recognition for its 'one-China' principle internationally and put pressure on Taiwan will make the regional situation tense," the council said in a statement.

Xinhua did not say if a spat over China blocking the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier from docking in Hong Kong came up in the meeting between Ma and Negroponte.

The United States has complained that China, at the last minute, blocked a Thanksgiving visit to Hong Kong by the Kitty Hawk and accompanying ships last month. China later reversed its decision but Washington said it was too late.

The Pentagon also accused China of refusing to let two minesweepers shelter from a storm in Hong Kong last month."

Source:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071207/...Z60AjDmx0Bxg8F