CHINA’S leaders told the US Secretary of State yesterday that America should refrain from interfering in its delicate relationship with Taiwan.

Condoleezza Rice arrived in Beijing, the penultimate stop in her first north-Asian tour since her appointment, just a week after China had passed an anti- secession law that made illegal any attempt at independence by Taiwan.

President Hu Jintao told Dr Rice that he hoped that the United States would “see clearly the nature and harms of Taiwan independence secessionist forces”. Mr Hu said that he hoped that the US would “understand and support all the efforts to safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and realise a peaceful reunification.”

Despite continuing disagreements over intellectual property, relations between Washington and Beijing have become increasingly warm, particularly on matters of trade and on China’s efforts to broker a deal in the North Korean nuclear stand-off.

China has freed one of its highest-profile political prisoners and Washington decided not to seek a United Nations rebuke of Beijing’s human rights record, as it had done last year.

Washington was irritated at the controversial new anti- secession law, which is aimed at stopping Taiwanese independence, by force if necessary. China and Taiwan split after a civil war in 1949. Communist Beijing continues to consider democratic, self-governing Taiwan to be a renegade state and has vowed to return it to the motherland.

Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Prime Minister, also urged Washington to show understanding, respect and support for the anti-secession legislation.

Dr Rice has described the law as unhelpful in reducing tensions between the mainland and Taiwan.

Given the presence of about 700 missiles pointed across the Strait of Taiwan at Taiwan, the law has cranked up tensions in the region.

During her recent visit to Seoul, Dr Rice said that the possibility of heightened tensions in the Strait of Taiwan should make the European Union rethink its plan to lift an arms embargo on China, which was imposed after the 1989 suppression of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

She repeated her argument that European governments were irresponsible if they sold sophisticated weaponry to China one day that might be used against US forces in the Pacific.

During her visit, she also told North Korea that Washington’s patience was not endless and would not allow a stalemate over Pyongyang’s refusal to return to nuclear arms negotiations to go on forever. Dr Rice was hoping to ask China for more help to persuade communist North Korea to return to international nuclear disarmament talks.

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