Beijing Monday expressed regret over Taipei's refusal to accept its donation of medical aidas the mainland's efforts to join forces with the island in fighting SARS suffered another major setback.

An unidenfied official with the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) accused the Taiwan authorities of politicizing the health issue at the expense of the health and well-being of the people.

In a statement issued Monday, the official said a handful of politically motivated separatist members of the Taiwan administration had taken the move.

The Taiwanese move has "gone against the will of the Taiwanese people and badly hurt the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits,'' said the official.

It is the second time in a fortnight that the island has rebutted offers of help by the mainland.

On May 12, the China Red Cross on the mainland offered to provide the island with medical aid, but its Taiwan counterpart rejected the offer.

The ARATS also levelled criticism at its Taiwanese counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), for betraying its primary role of serving the benefits and welfare of Taiwanese people.

The ARATS and SEF are two semi-official bodies responsible for cross-Straits ties in the absence of official links between Taiwan and the mainland.

The ARATS official said the SEF notified them on Sunday of its refusal to accept the mainland's offer to donate medical aid and send a health-care team to the island, while at the same time making unfounded allegations in respect of the mainland's move.

The rejection contradicted a letter sent by the SEF to the ARATS on May 21, saying the foundation had been authorized to accept medical donations from the mainland, the ARATS official said.

On May 23, the ARATS sent a reply in which they expressed the mainland's deep concerns at the worsening SARS situation on the island.

On behalf of a "great number'' of mainland organizations and compatriots, the ARATS offered to donate medical materials to hospitals in the hard-hit cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung.

The first batch of donations was to include 200,000 protective suits, 100,000 surgical masks and five negative-pressure ambulances that can effectively prevent the spread of the SARS virus.

On May 24, staff members of the two organizations agreed, by telephone, delivery details in respect of these items and the mainland set in motion the collecting of the donations ready for delivery by air freight, said the ARATS official.

But on May 25, the Taiwan authorities intervened and instructed the SEF to reject the medical aid.

In spite of this intervention and rejection on the part of the Taiwan authorities, the ARATS official stressed that the mainland would continue to keep in readiness the medical materials which would go some considerable way to helping the Taiwanese people in their fight against the SARS outbreak.

The number of SARS cases in Taiwan grew by 15 Monday to 585, with 72 deaths.