THE Chinese Premier, Mr Li Peng, yesterday told the US not to send its navy into the Taiwan Straits, saying the use of force against China could spell trouble.
"If some foreign force makes a show of force in the Taiwan Straits that will not be helpful but will make the situation all the more complicated," Mr Li told reporters when asked about China's response if US ships entered the narrow sea passage dividing Taiwan from the mainland that claims the island.
The US has sent two aircraft carrier groups to the region to monitor Chinese war games that are intended to intimidate the estranged island into abandoning any ambitions, for independence.
Mr Li's remarks were Beijing's hardest hitting response to the US since China started missile tests and live-fire war games this month and Washington replied by sending in the navy and calling the intimidation "deplorable".
"The Chinese government will in no way accept the practice of one country imposing its views on another," Mr Li said. "If someone threatens the use of force against China this, as has been shown by past experience, will not spell any good results." He was speaking at a news conference after the closing session of the annual National People's Congress.
China and the US should approach their relationship by seeking common ground, Mr Li said.
Of course, there are differences between the two countries. The only correct way of ironing out these differences is to carry out dialogues and co-operation on an equal, friendly and frank basis," he said.
However, he repeated China's wish for peaceful reunification with Taiwan, which Beijing has regarded as a rebel province since the defeated Nationalists fled there at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
China's official Xinhua news agency blamed the Taiwan President, Mr Lee Teng-hui, for the "chaos" on the island - a reference to Taiwanese rushing to buy US dollars and gold, stocking up on food and shares prices plunging.
Mr Lee, front-runner for next Saturday's presidential election, yesterday remained defiant after China increased the pressure in its dispute by declaring it had never given an assurance not to, attack the island.
On Friday, China dashed rising hopes for an easing of tension by unveiling plans for a second round of exercises straddling the election, from March 18tb to 25th.