China_s 2.5 million-strong military was reported to be on high alert on Saturday as Taiwan voted in presidential elections that could dump the ruling Nationalists in favor of a pro-independence party.

Threats from China have overshadowed the vote, and on Saturday a Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper said a win by Chen Shui-bian, whose party openly espouses a separate state, would make the possibility of war more likely. The People_s Liberation Army was on ``high alert and ready to take measures according to the existing situation,'' the Wei Wei Po newspaper said. Taipei voters appeared to shrug off Beijing_s furious rhetoric, queuing calmly at voting booths under overcast skies in a poll that could plunge the island into the political unknown -- and send ripples across Asia -- by ending more than half a century of Nationalist rule. Three front-runners have been neck-and-neck, and at a late-night rally on Friday the Nationalist standard-bearer Lien Chan, his voice hoarse with emotion, begged voters to shun his rival Chen and avoid ``chaos, disaster, war.'' The Nationalist vote has been split by a maverick run by party rebel James Soong, giving voters their first real chance to topple the ruling party. The Nationalists set up a government-in-exile on the island in 1949 after fleeing the mainland where their forces were routed by the Communist Red Army in civil war. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province. Chen has softpedalled the independence issue and insists he wants better ties with the mainland, but Beijing is unconvinced and its state media have called him a sweet-talking liar. Beijing has threatened to invade if the island of 23 million people formally splits. After casting his vote, Chen threw out yet another olive branch to Beijing.