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U.S. sends warning to China with warships

March 10, 1996
Web posted at: 10:50 p.m. EST (0350 GMT)

From Correspondent Jeanne Meserve

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As China continues missile tests and gets ready for war games in the Taiwan Strait, the United States is sending a strong message by moving an aircraft carrier battle group into the area.

"We're concerned to make sure that those forces, that carrier battle group, are in a position to helpful if they need to be. They'll be moved somewhat closer to Taiwan in future days," U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." (136K AIFF sound or 136K WAV sound)

China announced this weekend it will carry out eight days of air and sea exercises with live ammunition in the Taiwan Strait starting Tuesday. This follows missile tests by the Chinese off Taiwan's coast on Friday.

China Carriers

The actions have escalated tensions between China and Taiwan, which is holding a presidential election March 23.

Pentagon sources told CNN the USS Independence has been in the East China Sea for almost a week as close as a few hundred miles from Taiwan.

It would be difficult, sources said, to get much closer to Taiwan without entering the strait itself, and no decision has been made to do that.

Lake

National Security Adviser Anthony Lake warned against reading too much into the ship movements.

"We will be moving our naval assets to the area to make sure that we can avoid any miscalculation by the Chinese," he said. "I would prefer not to go into operational detail, but I would not assume that it's into the straits."

U.S. naval vessels have traversed the strait before. In December, the aircraft carrier Nimitz moved through the waters to avoid bad weather and heavy seas elsewhere.

War Games

Chinese war games are scheduled to start Tuesday in a area of the Taiwan Strait very close to international shipping lanes. The Chinese have issued warnings to stay away from a 6,000-square-mile zone of activity. It is unclear whether there will be much disruption of shipping, but the presence of Chinese forces using live ammunition is clearly a concern.

"The security of that region is very important to the United States," said U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright. "The actions the Chinese are taking are considered reckless and risky." (119K AIFF sound or 119K WAV sound)

James Lilley, former U.S. Ambassador to China, said the decision to increase U.S. presence near Taiwan is an appropriate response to war games and missile tests meant to intimidate Taiwan's leaders before the national elections.

Lilley

"I hope that we are giving the Chinese the very strong message ... that this is a very bad move on their part that can have all sorts of repercussions, not only in the United States, but in all of Asia and the world," Lilley said. (145K AIFF sound or 145K WAV sound)

The U.S. Navy is also beefing up its forces in the Taiwan area. The guided missile destroyer USS Hewitt and the frigate USS McClusky joined the Independence group this weekend.

Pentagon sources told CNN there would be no attempt to move through the Taiwan Strait until after China ends its missile tests in the area on March 15.

But the Chinese war games aren't scheduled to end until March 23, leaving open the possibility that American and Chinese warships could find themselves operating in very close quarters.


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