TAIPEI, Oct 19 (AP) -- Taiwanese emergency personnel on Wednesday showed their readiness to deal with a potentially devastating outbreak of bird flu, part of their efforts to reassure an increasingly worried population that the problem is under control.

Representatives of local governments, police and military officials and agricultural specialists simulated coordinated responses to the arrival of birds infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus on the island.

The disease has so far killed 65 people, all in Asia, since late 2003. There have been no confirmed cases in birds or humans in Taiwan.

As migrating wild fowl have spread bird flu from Asia to Europe, fears have intensified that the virus may mutate into one that can be easily transmitted among humans, setting the stage for a global pandemic.

In Wednesday's exercise, Taiwanese emergency personnel recreated a recent incident in which local officials discovered birds smuggled onto the island from nearby China.

In front of scores of television cameras in a suburban Taipei sports hall, they simulated cordoning off the affected area, questioning the fishermen, and conducting intensive tests on both the fowl and people who had been in contact with them.

In another scenario, they set up monitoring stations at key locations around the island to check migratory birds for signs of the virus.

Premier Frank Hsieh warned that smuggling birds onto the island to profit from a thriving local market for exotic fowl could have serious repercussions.

"If anyone smuggles birds ... it can undermine all the efforts the government is taking to prevent the spread of the disease," he said.

Hsieh's presence at the exercise was meant to reassure Taiwanese that authorities are well prepared to deal with any bird flu outbreak.

Government officials came under severe criticism for a lack of preparedness in coping with the SARS outbreak that hit Taiwan in 2002. By the time that respiratory virus was contained in July 2003, Taiwan had recorded 346 SARS cases and 37 deaths.

An official Wednesday also said that Taiwan hopes to get a license from Swiss drug maker Roche to manufacture a generic version of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu to prepare the island for a possible outbreak.

Hou Sheng-mou, head of Taiwan's Health Department, said authorities were encouraged by news reports that Roche would consider license requests to make generic versions of the drug.

"We were among the first to have approached Roche for a license, compelling it to open its door for others to make the drug," Hou said. "Our capability in producing the drug has been affirmed."

He did not provide details.

Roche has been under growing pressure from governments to license generic versions of Tamiflu, the only drug effective in treating people infected with bird flu. Tamiflu is already in short supply.

Taiwan's state-funded National Health Research Institute said last month it was able to make Tamiflu. Officials have said Taiwan would declare an emergency in the case of a bird flu outbreak, allowing it to produce the drug without a license.