CHINA'S surprise recall of its ambassador to the United States is a worrying sign that the row over the granting of a visa to Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui is starting to spin out of control.
Already, years of work spent improving relations across the straits have been caught in the crossfire, with Beijing postponing plans for a mini-summit between representatives of Taiwan and the mainland.
China and the US are now deprived of high-level diplomatic representation in each other's capitals, and the danger must be that the dispute will take on a momentum of its own. All it needs is a few ill-considered comments by a couple of congressmen for hostilities to escalate still further.
Even a temporary absence of ambassadors makes it much more difficult to repair strained relations. Recalling an envoy is relatively easy: sending him back is much more difficult - and China is unlikely to do this until Washington makes some gesture to atone for allowing Mr Lee into the US.
Yet there is little the US President, Bill Clinton, can offer, given the strong pro-Taipei sentiment in the Republican-dominated Congress. The Republicans forced Mr Clinton to grant the visa and they would oppose any fresh moves to appease Beijing.
Inviting President Jiang Zemin to Washington would be one option, especially given his recent involvement in China's policy-making on Taiwan affairs. But such an invitation would probably prove counter-productive, as he would be likely to receive a hostile reception from congressional leaders.
Any attempt to lift sanctions on arms sales and military technology transfers, which were imposed in protest at the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, would also run into strong opposition on Capitol Hill.