Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhu Bangzao made the comments in response to US reports saying that Chinese technicians helped Iraq to improve its military communications.

"The accusation is an attempt to mislead public opinion and divert public attention. It's futile and with ulterior motives," Zhu said.

China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has always been serious about strictly implementing all the resolutions of the UN Security Council concerning the question of Iraq, he said.

The US and British's air strikes against Iraq last week violated the United Nations Charter and other norms governing international relations, provoking wide-ranging condemnation from the international community, Zhu said.

US and British warplanes bombed Iraqi communications and air defence targets in the south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on February 16, the first attack on Baghdad since December 1998.

China has consistently maintained that the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Iraq should be respected, Zhu said, noting that all relevant UN Security Council resolutions should be fully implemented. He said that meanwhile, the international community must be fair and objective about assessing Iraq's compliance with the resolutions.

Regarding the matter of school history textbooks which are set to be approved by the Japan education ministry and attempt to deny Japan's invasion and abuses against Asian countries, Zhu warned these will have an adverse impact and hurt Sino-Japanese relations.

"It is trying to whitewash its history of aggression in school textbooks," Zhu said.

"The Chinese government and people are seriously concerned with the tendencies recently in Japan concerning the question of school history books," Zhu said. He noted that rightist groups in Japan "concocted" history textbooks with the aim of spreading the historical concept of imperialist Japan in an attempt to deny and whitewash the past history of aggression.

The issue of history textbooks is a political one of great importance, said Zhu, stressing that it concerns the feelings of people who were victims. It is, he said, related to Japan's stance towards its history of aggression.

Zhu urged the Japanese side to take effective measures to prevent such textbooks from publication and maintain the Sino-Japanese relationship.

He said China has asked Japan to handle the problem with a historically responsible attitude and that Japan has said it would look into the issue.

Zhu also expressed concern over the alleged unfair treatment by Japan Airlines (JAL) to Chinese passengers during a Beijing-Tokyo flight, which was diverted on January 27 due to a snowstorm in Tokyo.

On that day, more than 90 Chinese passengers on board a JAL flight were apparently forced to spend 16 hours inside Osaka airport while passengers from other nationalities were put up at a hotel.

The passengers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the company.

"We hope Japan Airlines will adopt a responsible and conscientious attitude," Zhu said, adding the airline has agreed to investigate the matter.

(China Daily 02/23/2001)