BEIJING, May 25 (AFP) - A US congressional report alleging China stole US nuclear weapons technology was groundless and an attempt to poison ties between Washington and Beijing, Chinese officials said Tuesday. "This sensational allegations are absurd," foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said. He said there were anti-China forces in the United States who embraced a Cold War mentality and were hostile towards China, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "By issuing the Cox report, they have staged an anti-China farce in order to spread the theory of a China threat and damage the friendly ties between the peoples of China and the United States," Zhu said. In Washington, a special congressional panel under Republican Representative Christopher Cox released a 700-page report Tuesday claiming China stole key nuclear weapons secrets and shared them with US enemies. "What we were sad to learn is that the People's Republic of China has stolen classified information on every currently deployed warhead in the US ballistic missile arsenal," Cox told a news conference in releasing the report. He said the thefts began in the late 1970s and it was likely they continued "to this very day." But Zhu said China was able to safeguard its security "by completely relying on their own wisdom and strength," and would never threaten another country. "This kind of report is surely aimed at poisoning the relations between the two countries," he told a news conference. "The intention of this report is to spread China threat theory and to whip up anti-China sentiments and to deflect people's attention" from the Belgrade embassy bombing, Zhu said. China has hinted at growing impatience with the United States as it waits for the results of a promised investigation into NATO's attack on its Belgrade embassy on May 7. President Bill Clinton and other NATO leaders have apologised for the attack, which killed three Chinese journalists and sparked a wave of angry protests across the country, saying it was "a tragic mistake." Clinton also promised President Jiang Zemin the United States would conduct a thorough investigation into the bombing. The Chinese government has repeatedly said it is now waiting to see what the United States does next, and reserves the right to take further action if it is not satisfied. According to advance copies of the Cox report: - Stolen US technology allowed China to develop small nuclear warheads that can be used on highly mobile intercontinental ballistic missile systems. - China stole guidance technology currently used in US missiles and advanced jet fighter airplanes. - Chinese nuclear spying continues to this day as part of a massive effort to steal or buy US military technology. - US counterintelligence agents began to look into spying at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in 1995, when the CIA obtained secret Chinese documents that contained classified US nuclear weapons information. The CIA concluded that the document was provided by a Chinese double agent. The report states that China gave weapons systems and components based on stolen US technology to Iran, Pakistan, Libya, Syria and North Korea. Technology secrets were transferred during commercial satellite launches, according to the report. Also, high-powered computers sold to China have been used for military purposes, it says. The Cox committee also found that China successfully obtained secret nuclear-missile, aircraft and space-weapon technology over the past two decades, with much of the theft occurring at four US laboratories run by the Department of Energy. The publication of the Cox report is the latest chapter in a series of blows to the Sino-US relationship since the euphoria surrounding Clinton's visit to China last June. Wrangling over human rights, Taiwan, Kosovo and delicate negotiations on China's bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have all taken their toll in the months since Clinton's trip.  