BEIJING (Reuter) - China Tuesday denied allegations it gave money to President Clinton's Democratic Party, saying it lacked funds for foreign political donations.

Beijing made the denial the same day it announced it was gearing up for a visit later this month by U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who has also been ensnared in controversy over fund-raising linked to the Democratic Party.

Gore is scheduled to visit China March 24-28, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Cui Tiankai told a news briefing.

The spokesman gave no further details of Gore's trip, which is part of a series of high-level visits intended to culminate with an exchange of presidential visits.

Gore has become entangled in the controversy over Democratic fund-raising practices, with U.S. congressional Republican leaders saying the vice president may have violated the law by pressing for political contributions during the 1996 U.S. presidential election.

Gore has insisted he broke no laws.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating reports that Chinese embassy officials in Washington sought to secretly steer foreign donations toward President Clinton's re-election campaign last November.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman denied the allegation, saying China was strapped for cash.

"We also do not want to spend this kind of money," he said. "We have never been interested in using illegitimate methods to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries."

"What we do has always been open and aboveboard," Cui said.

A U.S. congressional committee investigating campaign funding abuses has issued subpoenas to the White House and Justice Department for information on any alleged Chinese government involvement in funnelling money for the election.

Such contributions would be illegal. Clinton's Democratic Party has already returned $3 million in questionable cash to various donors, most of them with Asian ties.

A senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official had made serious representations to the U.S. charge d'affairs in Beijing over the accusations of illegal donations, the official Xinhua news agency said Monday.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the FBI had warned six members of Congress last year that they had been targeted by China to receive illegal campaign contributions from foreign corporations.

U.S. investigators had found what officials called conclusive evidence that Chinese government funds were funnelled into the United States in 1996, the newspaper said.

Sino-U.S. ties have long been sorely tested by disputes over issues ranging from human rights to trade to Taiwan, but both sides have moved in recent months to bring stability to the cross-Pacific relationship.

While diplomats say Beijing and Washington are determined to prevent their many differences from outweighing areas of common interest, frosty exchanges have remained a frequent feature of the Sino-U.S. diplomatic dialogue.

In its annual report on human rights, the U.S. State Department accused Beijing of effectively silencing public dissent in 1996 through jailings, intimidation or exile.

China's propaganda machine shot back with diatribes against U.S. newspapers deemed hostile to Beijing and editorials that described the United States as a land of guns, terrorist bomb attacks and racial discrimination.