Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao on Tuesday expressed China's opposition to the United States sending a delegation to the Taiwan leader's inauguration on May 20.

   By dispatching a delegation to attend the inauguration, the United States is sending a wrong signal to the Taiwan authority, and that will hamper the stability across the Taiwan Straits, Liu said.

   "China has lodged a solemn representation to the US side," Liu said.

   Reports said the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) announced that a US delegation led by Jim Leach, chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs for the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives, would attend the May 20 inauguration and the AIT also said no government officials were involved in the delegation.

   Liu urged the US side to keep its promise of abiding by the one-China policy and the three Sino-US joint communiques, opposing "Taiwan independence" and the Taiwan authority's unilateral attemptto change the status quo across the Taiwan Straits and its moving toward "Taiwan independence".

   "We also urge the US side to handle the Taiwan issue properly and refrain from doing anything that may harm China-US relations and damage the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits," he said. Enditem