The Microsoft Corporation has been forced to stop shipping its Chinese language Windows 95 operating system in China after the discovery of politically offensive phrases hidden in the software, officials said today.

Chinese computer users said the phrases included the once commonly used Taiwan epithet ''Communist bandits'' and ''Taiwan independence'' as well as a graphic showing a map of China without Taiwan.

Last Monday, Microsoft halted shipment of new copies of the mainland version of Windows 95, which uses simplified Chinese characters, unlike the traditional forms used in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Beijing had ordered the software giant to halt sales and to eliminate the offending language, a Chinese official said.