¡¡¡¡BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage reiterated here Monday that the United States "does not support Taiwan independence".

¡¡¡¡He made the remarks at a press conference, saying that such stance had always been made clear by the White House spokesman before.

¡¡¡¡Armitage is in China to hold political consultations with Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

¡¡¡¡Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao, Vice-Premier Qian Qichen and Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met with Armitage respectively Monday.

¡¡¡¡Armitage said his visit aims to arrange the schedule for Chinese President Jiang Zemin's forthcoming visit to the United States in the fall and to exchange views with the Chinese side on a wide range of issues.

¡¡¡¡After reiterating the US government stance on Taiwan, Armitage said he doesn't think Chen Shuibian's "one country on each side" statement will "interfere with the third summit meeting between USPresident Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin".

¡¡¡¡He said the US government judges the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" (ETIM) as a terrorist organization and had committed acts of violence to civilians.

¡¡¡¡The United States is inspired by China's efforts to jointly strike terrorist activities with the U.S. and will cooperate with China to crack down on terrorist forces, especially to cut off their financial sources, he said.

¡¡¡¡Armitage also answered questions on South Asia, the Korean Peninsula and Iraq issues. Enditem