China on Monday formally recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC) as Libya's government following the fall of Moamer Kadhafi, after weeks of holding back.

"China respects the choice of the Libyan people and attaches great importance to the status and role of the NTC, and has kept in close contact with it," the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu as saying in a statement.

Beijing had been the only United Nations Security Council member not to give formal recognition after Tripoli fell to anti-Kadhafi forces three weeks ago, though earlier this month it described the former rebels as "significant".

The NTC has said it is "delighted" by the move and will honour all existing treaties and agreements with China, the report quoted Ma -- whose country has billions invested in rail, oil and telecoms in Libya -- as saying.

"Libya welcomes China to engage in the country's reconstruction and jointly push forward the steady and sustained development of bilateral ties," Xinhua quoted an unnamed representative of the Libyan council as saying.

The council also said it would support the "one China policy", Ma said, according to Xinhua. The policy on the sensitive issue of Taiwan says that there is only one China which Beijing has the right to rule, despite the island's self-government since the 1949 end of a civil war.

Beijing had long helped prop up the Kadhafi regime before the uprising broke out in Libya, and has been accused of offering to sell huge amounts of weapons to Tripoli despite United Nations sanctions at the height of the rebellion.

China opposed NATO airstrikes which boosted the progress of Libya's uprising, and has said the UN should lead post-war reconstruction there.

It has commercial and strategic reasons for not wanting Western countries to exert too much influence in Libya.

The new Libyan government said last week it was probing documents appearing to detail secret Chinese efforts to sell vast amounts of weapons to Kadhafi's government in late July.

The papers disclosed by Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper appeared to show that state-controlled Chinese arms firms tried to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200 million to Kadhafi.

The papers did not confirm whether the arms were delivered, but the revelation sparked anger and unease in Tripoli.

Beijing denied the claims.

"In July the Kadhafi government sent someone to China without the knowledge of the Chinese government to make contact with the representatives of interested companies," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists last week.

"Chinese companies have not provided military products to Libya in any direct or indirect form. Chinese companies did not sign arm sales contracts and they did not export military products to Libya."

The allegations threatened to further strain already testy relations between the new Libya and Beijing.

Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said Friday that China was ready to help Libya rebuild and would "support the United Nations to play a leading role".

China is a major oil importer and needs to secure stable supplies of the resource to help keep its huge economy moving.

Libya produced about 1.6 million barrels of oil per day before the rebellion broke out, but output has since slowed to a trickle.

Since the fall of Tripoli last month, NTC forces have advanced dozens of kilometres (miles) west towards Khadhafi's home town of Sirte, which remains in the hands of his loyalists, and have moved to secure the vital oil infrastructure on which its post-war reconstruction plans depend.

NATO vowed Monday that there would be no let-up in its bombing campaign against Kadhafi's remaining strongholds in the country as long as they pose a threat, while Kadhafi's forces launched surprise fightbacks on three fronts.

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