China strongly opposed the US Congress' passage of a bill to support Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer and has already protested to the US side, foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said yesterday.

Taiwan, as a province of China, is ineligible to participate in the World Health Organization (WHO), an organization open only to sovereign countries, nor is it eligible to attend the WHA as an observer, Zhang said.

The central government supports the WHO's sending of an expert group to Taiwan for inspection of its SARS situation, Zhang added.

Taiwan authorities are playing "political tricks" taking advantage of SARS, trying to create "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan," Zhang said.

The US Government should recognize the political motive of the Taiwan authorities and stick to its commitments in the three Sino-US joint communiques, Zhang said.

China Daily news