China explains snub of ships

A Chinese government official said Thursday that his country's last-minute cancellation of a U.S. Navy visit to Hong Kong was not the result of a misunderstanding, as Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi reportedly told President Bush on Wednesday.

Instead, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, it was because Sino-U.S. ties had been "disturbed and harmed" by the U.S. Congress' tribute to the Dalai Lama and by American arms sales to Taiwan.