Hong Kong  -  A US aircraft carrier arrived in Hong Kong Monday for its final port visit, five months after being turned away in a diplomatic snub by China.

The USS Kitty Hawk, which will be taken out of service after returning to Hawaii next month, was at the centre of a row between China and the US when it last tried to visit in November.

As he arrived for the vessel's final visit Monday, the aircraft carrier's commander Rear Admiral Richard Wren said he was "still not very satisfied" with China's explanation for the November refusal.

Around 300 wives and children who had flown to Hong Kong to be reunited with their sailor husbands for the Thanksgiving holiday were stranded because of the dispute.

The block on the visit also caused heavy losses for restaurants and bars in Hong Kong's Wan Chai nightclub district where many of the the 8,000 sailors on board the USS Kitty Hawk and support vessels spend their shore leave.

China gave no reason for its refusal but analysts speculated that it was a tit-for-tat move responding either to Washington giving an award to the Dalai Lama or to US weapon sales to Taiwan.

US vessels are normally only refused permission to visit Hong Kong at times of military tension with China such as in the wake of the collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet over Hainan Island in 2001.

China must give approval for all foreign military visits to Hong Kong, a former British colony which reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, but permission is usually granted as a formality. (dpa)