China envoy: US should stop Taiwan arms sales

— China's top diplomat in the United States says Washington's approval of a multibillion-dollar arms package for Taiwan is a "gross violation" of U.S. commitments to Beijing.

Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong said in a speech Wednesday that the United States should abide by previous promises to reduce the sales of weapons to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its territory.

Zhou bluntly urged the U.S. to stop selling weapons to Taiwan and to allow Beijing and Taipei to work out their differences.

China is angry over the Bush administration's approval of a $6.5 billion package of weapons to help the island defend itself should China ever make good on its vow to invade if Taiwan should formalize its de facto independence.