Scenarios where China would drop a neutron bomb on Taiwan or launch a full-scale invasion are unimaginable, they said.

Other options include China firing missiles, instituting a naval blockade or grabbing a small, outlying Taipei-held island, but the analysts doubted the effectiveness of such action and said the United States could be sucked into the conflict.

``I don't see any realistic scenarios where the use of nuclear weapons is conceivable unless the very survival of the Beijing regime is at stake,'' said a Hong Kong-based Western military analyst who asked not to be identified.

``If it was to evolve into a massive conflict involving the US and Japan, then there would be considerations. But even then it would be a weapon of last resort,'' he added.

Taiwan is unlikely toprove a pushover should China carry out its threat to invade if the island declares independence.

The 2.5 million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) may be the world's biggest, but it is mainly a junkyard of obsolete weapons, under-trained troops and an officer corps distracted by business until Beijing imposed a ban on PLA commerce last year.

Taiwan on the other hand is armed to the teeth with billions of dollars worth of US and French warplanes, frigates, submarines and missiles.

``It's generally thought that the Chinese don't have the military capability to go toe-to-toe with Taiwan,'' said Robert Karniol, Bangkok-based Asia correspondent of Jane's Defence Weekly.

``The PLA will be able to narrow that and perhaps have a parity within the next five to 10 years,'' Karniol told Reuters.

Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui touched off the spat last week by junking the longstanding `One China' policy to try to break the island out of diplomatic isolation imposed by Beijing.

The islandcould pay a high price if it calls China's bluff.

``If the Chinese have decided that Lee Teng-hui has crossed the line in terms of the independence issue, then they're backed against a wall and it is not an empty threat,'' the Hong Kong-based analyst said.

``It seems that Lee has not crossed that line, so Beijing does rattle its sabre and show its teeth, but beyond that there is not much more than it can do,'' he said.