Visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney said inBeijing Tuesday that the United States does not support "Taiwan Independence" and is against any unilateral action from each side to change the existing situation across the Taiwan Straits. 

Cheney made the remarks during the talks with his Chinese counterpart Zeng Qinghong.

The United States realized the importance of the Taiwan issue to US-China relations, and the US policy on that question was not changed at all, Cheney said.

The US side sticks to the one-China policy based on the three joint communiqués between the United States and China, Cheney said.

Zeng introduced Chinese government's principled stance on the Taiwan issue.

The very fact of the Taiwan issue is that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China, the election result in the island could not change that fact, Zeng said.

The Chinese government will continuously adhere to the policy of peaceful reunification and the principle of "one country, two systems."

China will spare no efforts to settle the Taiwan issue in a peaceful way, but will never tolerate the "Taiwan Independence."

Zeng urged the US side to honor its commitments, stop selling weapons to Taiwan and not send any "wrong signals" to the "Taiwan Independence" forces.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2004)