China vents fury at Bush

Anti-Taiwan sentiment is splashed over the media

China has stepped up its angry condemnation of the United States for pledging military support to Taiwan.

In the fiercest rhetoric from Beijing since President Bush's decision to sell Taiwan more advanced weaponry, China's official media accused Washington of turning the island into an arsenal that could explode at any moment.

When the territorial land, water and air are violated, we will fight to the end at any price

People's Liberation Army daily

At the same time, Taiwanese leaders have attempted to reduce tensions by calling on Beijing to resume direct talks, which broke down two years ago.

Sino-US relations have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks following successive rows over a US spy plane, American sales of advanced weaponry to Taiwan, visas for Taiwanese leaders and US detainees in China.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian said dialogue would help stabilise relations with China which were his top priority.

Beijing angrily suspended fence-mending talks with Taipei in July 1999 after then President Lee Teng-hui redefined bilateral ties as being of a "special state-to-state" nature.

[Washington must] rein in its horse at the brink of the precipice

Chinese Government daily

Beijing views the island as a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Friday's edition of the Liberation Army Daily said China would fight to the end, and pay any price, to defend its land, sea and air.

Another official paper said US policy on Taiwan had taken it to the edge of a precipice.

'Dangerous road'

Already strained Sino-US ties took a nosedive on Wednesday when Mr Bush told a US television network that the use of military force was "certainly an option" if China ever invaded its island neighbour.

The US president said his comments were not a change in policy, but clarification of an existing position which sees a need for Taiwan to bolster its defences in response to a growing threat from China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in reply that the US president was heading down "a dangerous road" and warned the comments "undermined peace and stability".

Beijing had already strongly condemned the White House's decision to sell Taiwan a substantial number of submarines, aircraft and destroyers.

Mr Bush has since tried to play down his remarks.

He has said he does not expect either the arms sales, or the spy plane stand-off to affect his visit to China in the autumn.

The BBC Beijing correspondent says, however, that the remarks have prompted deep concern in China that US policy is moving in a new and dangerous direction.

Funeral, secrets lost

The event which sparked the diplomatic spat was the mid-air collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet on 1 April.

The wife of China's dead pilot commemorates her husband with flower petals

China took 11 days to free the US crew after their EP-3 plane landed on its territory.

Talks between the two sides have yet to secure the return of the plane, which was loaded with hi-tech gadgetry.

US defence officials acknowledged on Thursday that, despite the best efforts of crew members to destroy the equipment, some secrets fell into Chinese hands. They declined to describe the extent of the loss.

A funeral for the Chinese pilot lost in the clash, Wang Wei, was held on Thursday. He is believed to have ejected over the sea but his body was never found.