China angry at US missile report

By Francis Markus BBC, Shanghai

China has denounced a report from the United States Department of Defense accusing it of deploying growing numbers of ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan.

China's foreign ministry said Washington was making excuses to sell advanced weaponry to the island, which has been governed separately from the mainland since 1949 but which Beijing claims as part of China.

The report said China had 450 missiles deployed against Taiwan

China says it is outraged by the Pentagon's latest report highlighting what it says is the growing threat to Taiwan from the mainland's short-range ballistic missiles.

The US says China is adding another 75 missiles annually to its arsenal facing the island.

China argues that its military preparations are merely designed to deter Taiwan from declaring independence. It says the Pentagon is seeking to justify selling more advanced weapons to Taiwan.

Most analysts would agree that China is hard at work closing the technology gap between its vast but still backward military machine and Taiwan's US-supplied hardware.

But this fraught triangular relationship gets ever more complicated.

There are increasing questions over whether Taiwan's forces can absorb the equipment, even if Washington is willing to sell it.

There is also debate on the island over how much Taiwan should concentrate on boosting security and how much on improving relations with China, and despite the political tension, the steady integration of Taiwan into China's economy is becoming an indisputable fact on the ground.