China is venting its anger at the United States for recent contacts with the government of Taiwan. 

Beijing has refused permission for an American warship to make a routine port call in Hong Kong next month. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tuesday did not make a direct connection between the refusal and the issue of Taiwan, but she did say Taiwan is the most important and sensitive matter in U.S.-China relations. 

The spokeswoman also suggested that Vice President Hu Jintao will only proceed with his planned visit to Washington next month if the United States plays by China's rules with regard to Taiwan. 

China's prime minister, Zhu Rongji, told a group of visiting U.S. senators in Beijing Tuesday that his government firmly opposes Washington's policies on Taiwan. 

All of this follows a U.S. decision to allow Taiwan's defense minister to attend a private conference in the southern state of Florida earlier this month. Defense minister Tang Yiau-ming met with senior U.S. officials during his visit, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. 

Since the former British colony, Hong Kong, reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing has occasionally protested U.S. actions by barring U.S. warships from the territory. Last year, China imposed a temporary ban on American port calls after a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters. 

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