960406

China premier drops Dutch visit over subs - paper

HONG KONG: The cancellation of Chinese premier Li Peng's April visit to The Netherlands was prompted partly by a possible sale of Dutch submarines to Taiwan, a local newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Netherlands said on Thursday Li had called off the visit "owing to other commitments", and no new date had been set.

China has yet to say publicly why the visit was called off. Li had previously been scheduled to visit The Hague on April 18.

Quoting unidentified sources in Beijing, the politically middle-of-the-road Ming Pao Daily News said China was "extremely concerned" about the European nation's submarine sale to Taiwan.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province.

Tension rose sharply during recent Chinese military exercises designed to discourage any move by Taiwan towards outright independence.

The paper's sources added that relations between China and the Netherlands also soured because a staffer at the Chinese embassy in The Hague had sought political asylum there and China had allegedly been denied access to the asylum-seeker.-Reuter