TAIWAN's leaders stepped up a civil defence alert and appealed for calm and unity yesterday after China warned it would intensify its war games off the coast of the nationalist island.
Amid signs that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) would pursue its sabre rattling past Taiwan's presidential election on. March 23rd, air raid drills were started and plans for civilian evacuation and emergency food supplies fine tuned, officials said.
"We have set up a temporary anti disaster centre to co ordinate all efforts to fight fires and other emergencies in the event of a war," a Taipei Fire Department official said.
In Washington, the US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, said the US aircraft carrier Independence and its escort vessels "will be moved somewhat closer to Taiwan in future days". The carrier was last known to be about 300 km from Taiwan.
He said in a television interview that the Chinese authorities must know they will face really grave consequences if they try to resolve that problem by force".
China started week long missile jests off Taiwan's main ports on En day. A day later Beijing announced it would stage 11 days of air sea manoeuvres from tomorrow in a 17,000 sq km zone straddling sea lanes between the mainland and Taiwan.
The zone lies just 53 km from Kinmen, a Taiwanese island fortress over which the two rival Chinas have twice come to blows.
Taiwanese press reports and diplomats in Beijing said China would maintain the military threat until the end of March. The diplomats added China could be planning to simulate an invasion on one of Taiwan's outer islands.
In Taipei, local government officials were told by Mayor Chen Shui bian to improve contingency plans and facilities. In Chungeheng, the capital's business district, officials prepared quilts, food and other necessities and earmarked their underground ear park as a temporary shelter.
The air sea drill will finish three days before the first fully democratic presidential election in Taiwan's history. President Lee Teng hui, a figure hated by Beijing, is the clear favourite.
Mr Lee used an election rally in Taipei to make a new appeal for steadfastness. The public should stay calm and united to guard against the military threats by the Chinese communists," he said
Taiwanese political parties of all persuasions held protests at the exercises, which are widely seen as a bid to sway voters away from Mr Lee and pro independence candidates.
Braving heavy rain and chilly wind, more than 4,000 backers of the pro independence Democratic Progressive Party - some holding a portrait of Chinese President Jiang Zemin branded with the word "Wanted" - marched through Taipei.
The right wing New Party, which advocates immediate negotiations with China on reunification, mobilised thousands of supporters in Taipei against the tests.
Around 6,000 followers of a spiritual leader known as Supreme Master Ching Hai held a sit in at Taipei's Sun Yat sen Memorial Hall to pray for peace and 200 students staged a sit in protest at the Chiang Kai shek Memorial Hall.
The authorities are closing two international flight paths into Taipei because of the new drills. Around 300 flights from Hong Kong, South Korea and the United States and Japan are expected to be affected. Shipping has also been warned to stay away from the zone.
The government has said it will retaliate if any Chinese missile lands in Taiwanese territory. But the head of Taiwan's policy making body on China called on Beijing to return to the negotiating table to promote peace.
Reuter adds:
Police at southern China's Zhuhai airport captured two couples who brandished dynamite and daggers in an attempt to hijack a domestic flight and divert it to Taiwan, the Portuguese news agency LUSA said yesterday.
The couples, accompanied by two children, tried to commandeer Hainan Airlines flight H4 180 with some 200 passengers on board.
They were overpowered by security officers during the flight.