Beijing yesterday repeated its strong displeasure over the Japanese government's decision to allow Lee Teng-hui to visit the country where the former Taiwan leader visited the Yasukuni Shrine.

"Based on what Lee Teng-hui has done in Japan, it is clear what his intentions are, and we have again expressed our strong dissatisfaction with the Japanese side for allowing Lee to visit Japan," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said yesterday during a regular press briefing.

Lee, 84, said his visit to the shrine was intended to pay respect to his elder brother, who died fighting for the Japanese during World War II and is enshrined alongside Japanese war criminals.

Jiang said China has made several representations to the Japanese side, urging it to properly deal with the Taiwan question as well as historical issues.

The Sino-Japanese relationship has been improving in the wake of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Beijing last October and Premier Wen Jiabao's ice-thawing Tokyo trip in April.

President Hu Jintao and Abe are scheduled to meet tomorrow on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Germany.

Turning to the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Costa Rica, Jiang said it marks a brand-new stage in the development of bilateral relations.

Jiang said the move is in the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries and helps further expand bilateral mutually-beneficial cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, culture, education and technology. China is now preparing to establish embassy in Costa Rica, Jiang said.

"We welcome President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica and other high-ranking officials to visit China," Jiang said, adding China is ready to strengthen mutually-beneficial cooperation with the country in diversified fields.

Responding to a question that China still has no diplomatic links with some Central American and Latin American countries, Jiang said China would like to set up and develop normal state relations with all the countries that have no diplomatic ties with China.

"Taiwan issue is the only obstacle for China and these countries to develop relations," the spokeswoman said, calling on those countries to make correct choice.

Costa Rica is the 169th country to establish diplomatic relations with China. Jiang said China's diplomatic links with these countries are not based on "dollar diplomacy." An increasing number of countries have set up diplomatic ties with China, which fully demonstrates that the one-China principle is widely accepted by the international community, she said.

China and Costa Rica announced on Thursday that they had agreed to establish diplomatic ties after the Latin American country agreed to break official relations with Taiwan.

As for the US criticism of China’s policy on Sudan, China expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the US side.

The US House of Representatives passed a resolution on Wednesday that Jiang said ignored China's efforts to resolve the Darfur issue while charging that China has stood in the way of halting bloodshed in the western Sudanese region.

Jiang said the resolution was a crude interference in China's domestic affairs and that China has made a serious representation to the American side.

She said it is widely acknowledged that China has worked to push forward the process of solving the Darfur issue in a political way and has communicated effectively with the relevant parties, including the US.

She said China has attached great importance to the humanitarian situation in the region and has appointed a special envoy to handle the issue.

"The resolution has sent out a much mistaken signal, which is not conducive to Sino-US cooperation on the Darfur issue or to the proper solution of the issue," Jiang said.

Jiang said some American officials, in response to domestic political pressure, have taken advantage of the Darfur issue to attack China and have ulterior motives.

"We urged the US to take an objective view on China's constructive role in Darfur and stop these mistaken attacks," she said.

In another development, Jiang said China condemned a meeting between US President George W. Bush and Xinjiang separatist Rebiya Kadeer.

"Rebiya Kadeer is an out-and-out criminal," Jiang said.

"The US' act and wording wantonly interfere in China's internal affairs, and China is strongly discontented with and opposed to it," she said.

Jiang also announced yesterday that Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto Romulo will pay an official visit to China from June 17 to 19 at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily June 8, 2007)