Has the Chinese room argument shown 'strong artificial life' to be impossible?

We use the term 'Strong Artificial Life' to refer to the thesis that a sufficiently sophisticated computer simulation of a life-form is a life-form in its own right. Can John Searle's Chinese room Argument --originally intended by Searle to show that the thesis he dubs 'Strong AI' is false--be deployed against Strong A-Life? We have often encountered the suggestion that it can be (even in print; see Harnad 1993). However, so far as we know, there has been no detailed effort to state and assess a form of the argument which deals specifically with A-Life. We do our best to transfer the argument from the domain of AI to that of A-Life. We do so in order to show once and for all that the Chinese room argument proves nothing about A-Life.