BEIJING, March 26: China on Wednesday strongly protested against the US military’s “mistaken delivery” of missile fuses to Taiwan, the latest incident involving arms sales to the island to roil relations between Beijing and Washington.

In a statement posted on its website, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China had issued a strong message over the mix-up to Washington, expressing “strong displeasure” over the error.

“We ... demand the US side thoroughly investigate this matter, and report to China in a timely manner the details of the situation and eliminate the negative effects and disastrous consequences created by this incident,” Qin said.

He also reiterated China’s consistent demand for an end to weapons sales and military-to-military contacts with Taiwan, the self-governing island it claims as its own.

By doing so, Washington could “avoid damaging peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the healthy development of China-US relations,” Qin said. The US embassy in Beijing said it had no immediate comment on China’s response.

US officials have moved quickly to mollify Beijing since releasing details of the mix-up on Tuesday, in which the Pentagon said it sent four cone-shaped fuses for intercontinental ballistic missiles to Taiwan by mistake in August 2006 instead of helicopter batteries the island had ordered.

The fuses were manufactured for use on a Minuteman strategic nuclear missile and are linked to the triggering mechanism in the nose cone, but they contain no nuclear materials. The fuses have since been returned and an investigation headed by Navy Adm Kirkland H. Donald has been launched.

Ryan Henry, the No 2 policy official in Defence Secretary Robert Gates’ office, called the mistake intolerable and said Bush as well as Chinese leaders were informed of the mistake.

Henry said if the incident had violated any treaty or agreement, it was unintentional.

“We are being totally transparent. We have corrected the situation,” he said. “The United States stands up to its treaty obligations and we’re dealing with this in the most straightforward manner we can.”

Adding to the Pentagon’s embarrassment, a senior Taiwan defence official said on Wednesday that the US originally asked Taiwan to dispose of the missile parts, before realising the sensitivity of the technology involved.

“The US recently informed us that the parts had been mistakenly sent to Taiwan, and they asked us to dispose of the parts by ourselves,” said Wu Wei-rong, director-general of Taiwan’s armaments bureau. “The US then realised the parts were sensitive, controlled items which Taiwan could not deal with, and soon the parts were returned.”The error raised major concerns because of its indirect link to nuclear weaponry and the sensitivity of US arms sales to Taiwan.

Beijing routinely complains about US weapon sales to Taiwan, and while its anger is usually intense but short-lived it has occasionally led to serious tremors in the up-and-down relationship between their militaries.

Most recently, US approval of a sale of missiles and anti-submarine warfare planes was believed to have triggered Beijing’s rejection of Hong Kong port calls by the USS Kitty Hawk and other ships last fall. China hinted its response was prompted also by the US Congress’s honouring of the Dalai Lama.—AP