Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) -- The Republic of China government believes in the US commitment to separating its anti-terrorism campaign from the Taiwan Strait issue, a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said Thursday. 
	
	
 Stanley Kao, director of MOFA's North American Affairs Department, made the remarks amid mounting concerns about the possibility that the United States could compromise Taiwan's interests in exchange for mainland China's cooperation in the current US-led war on global terrorism. 
	
	
 Kao said US President George W. Bush's trip to Shanghai is mainly to attend the annual informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to seek expansion of the anti-terrorism coalition. 
	
	
 Prior to his departure for Shanghai, Bush said during his meeting with mainland Chinese President Jiang Zemin, he will reaffirm to Jiang the US support for the "one China" policy as well as its desire to see a peaceful solution to all disputes between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. 
	
	
 Kao said several senior Bush administration officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, has also made reassurances that the United States would not seek mainland China's support for the anti-terrorism campaign at the expense of Taiwan. 
	
	
 "We believe in the sincerity of the United States in promising not to mix up its counter-terrorism drive with the Taiwan Strait issue," Kao said, adding that relevant US officials have on many occasions reaffirmed similar commitments to the ROC. 
	
	
 Commenting on a Washington Post report that the Bush administration was considering waiving sanctions that bar sales of military-related equipment to mainland China, Kao said MOFA is trying to obtain more information about the report. 
	
	
 In his view, Kao said the cross-strait balance of military power is critical to the ROC's national security. Noting that the United States has consistently attached great importance to Asia-Pacific regional stability and security, Kao said the robust US arms sales package to Taiwan struck in April this year signifies that the United States is serious about security in the region. 
	
	
 Against this backdrop, Kao said, the ROC government is optimistic about defense cooperation with the United States. 
	
	
 Meanwhile, a foreign wire service report from Shanghai quoted a senior US Department of State official as saying Wednesday that the Bush administration has no plans to ease sanctions against mainland China. 
	
	
 The US official told reporters traveling with Powell en route to Shanghai for an APEC meeting that he unequivocally denied the Washington Post report that said the Bush administration was considering such a move, specifically to allow sales of spare parts for mainland Chinese-owned helicopters as another weapon in the US war on terrorism. 
	
	
 "There's no such sale or waiver contemplated," he said. 
	
	
 The Post quoted US officials as saying the White House was considering a waiver of sanctions imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing to allow the sale of parts for Black Hawks that Washington sold to mainland China in the 1980s. 
	
	
 It said the helicopters were designed for high altitudes typical of much of mainland China, including its Afghan border. Afghanistan is now under US bombardment for refusing to hand over the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden [Usama Bin Ladin].