The United States yesterday submitted an application for another warship to visit Hong Kong, hard on the heels of Beijing's rejection of a port call by a destroyer.
Military analysts said the move apparently was designed to test whether Beijing was imposing a blanket ban on port calls over Washington's recent strengthening of defence links with Taiwan.
The future of annual defence talks between the US and China is also in doubt after the administration of President George W. Bush failed to extend a formal invitation for them to continue. They were last held in December 2000.
The fresh application, believed to be for the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, which had been scheduled by the Pentagon to visit the SAR next month, follows expressions of anger from Beijing over a recent 'private' meeting between Taiwan Defence Minister Tang Yiau-ming and senior defence officials in Florida.
'There has been no decision to stop submitting requests for routine Hong Kong port calls,' said a US Consulate spokeswoman.
An application had been lodged with the local office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she said. The ministry office passes the requests to Beijing.
The spokeswoman would not specify the type of vessel which Washington was seeking to send to the SAR. The South China Morning Post revealed yesterday it had been considering dispatching the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and its battle group, which usually comprise seven or eight warships with about 7,000 crew.
