BEIJING, Feb 20 (AFP) - China's People's Liberation Army went on maximum alert across the country Thursday following the death of patriarch Deng Xiaoping, sources close to the military said.

The order was handed down during the night by the all-powerful Central Military Commission, headed by President Jiang Zemin, they added.

All forces have been recalled to their units and all leave has been cancelled.

Deng, 92, died during Wednesday night from respiratory problems brought on by advanced Parkinson's disease. Deng was the former head of the commission, one of the key positions of power in China.

Defence Minister Chi Haotian left Manila for Indonesia on the next stage of a foreign tour, the Chinese embassy in Manila said. But the military sources said he could be expected to cut short the trip.

A maximum security alert is usually imposed during events which risk provoking unrest, observers said.

The death of the Communist Party's former secretary general Hu Yaobang in April 1989 triggered the huge student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square which were brutally crushed on June 4 that year.

The authorities also fear that discontent in the northwestern province of Xinjiang and in Tibet could be used as a pretext to stir unrest during the six-day official mourning period for Deng.

At least 10 people were killed in riots by separatist Moslems in the Yining border town in the run up to the Chinese Lunar New Year.