China, which is marking 2006 as the Year of Italy, has denounced comments by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that the Chinese under Mao Zedong boiled babies.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi makes a statement to the press after talks with Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at Rome's Quirinale Presidential Palace, Friday, April 22, 2005. [AP]

"We are dissatisfied with this groundless talk," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters on Tuesday.

"Words and deeds by Italian leaders should benefit the stability and development of friendly relations between China and Italy."

Berlusconi, who has been accused of being obsessed with the "communist threat" in Italy, said Sunday that communists had a history of boiling babies.

"Go and read the black book on communism and you'll find that under Mao's China they didn't eat babies but boiled them to fertilize the fields," he told a rally.