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WASHINGTON has ordered a second aircraft carrier, the nuclear-powered Nimitz, and five or six support ships to the vicinity of Taiwan in an apparent bid to defuse the Taiwan Strait crisis.

While Taiwan last night welcomed the gesture as a sign of peace, Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen blasted Washington for pursuing a 'reckless and erroneous' course.

Asking Washington not to mistake Taiwan for 'an American protectorate', Mr Qian said he would pursue the matter with US Secretary of State Warren Christopher in a meeting next month.

Meanwhile, as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) begins nine days of live ammunition exercise southwest of the strait, Taiwan officials said they expected an unprecedented show of force involving the firing of missiles, offensive and defensive naval manoeuvres, and anti-submarine training.

Amphibious exercises and the seizure of beaches close to Taiwan-held islands will also be conducted.

'Judging from the operations, the drills will include anti-submarine, air-to-air, air-to-sea, sea-to-sea, sea-to-air missiles and heavy guns,' said Taiwan's Defence Ministry, which yesterday raised its state of alert.

US defence officials said yesterday the Nimitz would leave the Gulf ahead of schedule this week to join the carrier Independence in the Pacific near Taiwan.

The officials confirmed the two carriers and about 10 other US warships are being moved close to Taiwan in a precautionary step as China holds missile exercises in the area.

On Monday, the destroyer Hewitt and the McClusky, a guided-missile frigate, joined the Independence north of Taiwan, the 7th Fleet said in a statement from Yokosuka, Japan.

The guided-missile cruiser Bunker Hill took up a position south of the island to monitor the missile tests, it added.

All of the ships were in international waters, the fleet said.

Taiwan government spokesman Jason Hu said last night the US vessels coming to Taiwan were 'in order to safeguard peace and not in order to interfere in any country's internal affairs'.

'All countries in the Asia-Pacific region want peace and should welcome' the deployments, he said.

'We hope the Chinese communists can stop their military exercises and only in this way can they avoid hurting the interests of the Asian region,' added Mr Hu, speaking after a top-level government meeting on the crisis.

Chinese leaders yesterday reiterated China's warning that it would resort to force to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence.

'Our basic policy is that of peaceful reunification, of one country, two systems as put forward by Comrade Deng Xiaoping, but we will not undertake to renounce the use of force,' President Jiang Zemin told army officers at the National People's Congress (NPC).

And at an NPC press conference, Mr Qian dismissed as 'ridiculous' assumptions that Taiwan could be protected by the presence of a United States military fleet in the East China Sea.

The Vice-Premier said that while it was 'normal' for US naval vessels to operate in international waters, it was 'ridiculous for people to openly call for the intervention of the US 7th Fleet on [the issue of Taiwan] and call for the defence of Taiwan'.

'These people must have forgotten . . . Taiwan is a part of Chinese territory and is not a protectorate of the US,' he said.

Foreign government leaders should refrain from making irresponsible remarks about Taiwan or 'support or connive with the forces of independence' on the island, he added.

Mr Qian said China would 'not sit back and remain indifferent in the face of foreign support for Taiwanese independence'.

He called on the Taiwan authorities to see the error of their ways and give up their campaign for a UN seat.

'The United Nations is an organisation of sovereign states. Taiwan is only a regional economy and a part of China, so how could it possibly be eligible for a seat?' said Mr Qian, who is also Foreign Minister.

Mr Qian reiterated that the March 23 presidential elections in Taiwan would not alter the fact the island was a part of China and that Taiwan's leaders were only the leaders of one Chinese province.

'It is entirely futile for the Taiwan authorities to take advantage of the way they produce a leader to give a legal cloak to their activities aimed at splitting the motherland,' he said.

Taiwan officials said yesterday they expected the PLA manoeuvres to escalate until the elections and even beyond.

Taiwan's military said it had already detected some military movements linked to the large-scale, live-firing exercise China has said it will conduct in the Taiwan Strait from today until March 20.

'Taiwan cannot rule out the possibility of a Chinese communist attack on the offshore islands, although so far there is no sign that they will do so,' government spokesman Mr Hu said.

The Defence Ministry said it had tracked on the Chinese side additional deployments of military aircraft, including Jian-7 fighters, Qiang-5 fighter bombers, Reconnaissance-6 planes, Hong-6 bombers, and Russian-made Su-27 fighters.



US sends second carrier, support ships to strait