China has demanded the return of 17 Chinese Muslim Uighur detainees held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay.

America should "stop handing over terrorist suspects to any third country," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, cited by the BBC.

Palau, a former US Pacific territory which does not recognise China, has agreed to accept the ethnic Uighurs.

US President Barack Obama has ordered the Guantanamo detention centre closed by early next year.

Some 22 Uighurs were captured by United States forces during their invasion of Afghanistan and taken to the detention base in Cuba but were found not to be enemy combatants four years ago.

Albania re-settled five of them in 2006 but, correspondents say, fear of Chinese retaliation has prevented Tirana from further cooperation. The US has been reluctant to send the Uighurs back to China for fear they will be tortured or executed.

There are more than eight million Uighurs living in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, a vast area of western China that borders Central Asia.

Correspondents say many members of the mainly Muslim community say they suffer Chinese political and religious persecution.

Beijing says Uighur insurgents are leading an Islamic separatist movement.