China: Cancellation Of Visit by U.S. Navy No 'Misunderstanding'

BEIJING — China hinted yesterday that Congress's honoring of the Dalai Lama and American arms sales to Taiwan led it to cancel a U.S. Navy visit to Hong Kong, an incident that could open a new rift in military relations that had warmed in recent years.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, did not draw a direct connection between any specific event and China's barring of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and its escort vessels from entering Hong Kong harbor for a planned Thanksgiving visit. However, he said a report from Washington that quoted a Chinese official as calling the incident a misunderstanding was "not in line with the facts."

He said ties had been "disturbed and harmed" by American actions.