Presidents George W. Bush and Hu Jintao warned Taipei that its proposed vote on whether to apply for United Nations membership under the name "Taiwan" was provocative and could propel the region into a "possibly dangerous period."

At a meeting in Australia ahead of the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit, Hu said the move could destabilise the region and urged Bush to issue a stern warning to Taiwan.

"President Hu Jintao stressed that this year and next year is going to be a highly sensitive and possibly dangerous period of the situation in the Taiwan Straits," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.

"He said that in disregard of the warnings and objections of the relevant parties, the Taiwan authorities wantonly push for the (referendum) for the membership of Taiwan in the United Nations," Liu said.

"He told President Bush that more serious warnings should be given to the Taiwan authorities, to make clear to them that any separatist activities in any form will lead to nowhere," the spokesman said.

Independence-leaning Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has vowed to press ahead with the poll despite opposition from Washington and Beijing, which regards the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification.

Bush, whose country has for decades supplied Taiwan with weaponry to defend itself from any possible attack from China, told Hu he too is worried about the move.

"We are concerned very much about this step that Taiwan has undertaken," Bush's deputy national security adviser, James Jeffrey, told reporters in a briefing after the two leaders met in Sydney.

"We also don't want to see this blown up too big. We don't want to see anyone provoked by the actions of the Taiwanese, so for the moment we're going to stay with our position and continue to exert our good influence on the Taiwanese to see if we can change their position," said Jeffrey.

In Taipei, Chen reacted angrily, blasting China -- one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- for repeatedly thwarting its UN bid.

"Due to China's ruthless boycott and suppression, Taiwan cannot become a member of the UN," Chen said in a video conference with the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

"The People's Republic of China does not represent the 23 million Taiwanese people who deserve proper representation at the UN, who deserve to apply for membership with equal status."

China and Taiwan have been separated since the end of a civil war in 1949 but Beijing insists that Taiwan not make any move towards independence and wants reunification, by force if necessary.

"The way they try to solve problems is the way Hitler tried to solve the balance in Europe," Gary Lin, Taiwan's de-facto ambassador to Australia, told AFP in response to Hu's remarks.

"What we're doing is just to exercise our internal democratic practice and democratic institutions. Beijing misunderstood that. If they were a democracy like us, I think they would fully understand why we're doing that."

Taiwan, under its official name the Republic of China, lost its UN seat to China in 1971. Its efforts in the past 14 years to rejoin the world body using the name have been repeatedly blocked by Beijing.

Only 24 countries formally recognise Taipei over Beijing as China exerts growing pressure on Taiwan's friends and on international meetings not to recognise the island as a country.

At the annual APEC summit, Taiwan is called Chinese Taipei and is not represented by its president. This year, it has dispatched business tycoon Stan Shih.

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