Taiwan to test-fire US missile

The US has supplied Taiwan with Patriot missiles

Taiwan has reportedly obtained permission from the United States to test the US-built Patriot missile on Taiwanese territory.

It will be the first time the weapons have been tested outside the United States.

The Patriots, designed to intercept incoming missiles, are an important part of Taiwan's defence against China's Dongfeng-31, a nuclear-capable missile that can reach as far as the western US.

Defence Minister Mr Wu: On the alert for Chinese missile test

A military spokesman said Taiwan received permission to test the missile called the PAC-2 next year, according to the Associated Press news agency.

The PAC-2 missiles are upgraded versions of the Patriots used by US forces during the 1991 Gulf War.

Taiwan has already test-fired the missiles in the US, but the military wants to observe how they work in island's climate.

Defence chief Wu Shih-wen last week confirmed Taiwan wanted to test the Patriot missiles outside the US.

He said China may also test-fire its Dongfeng-31 missiles in the near future.

Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported on Tuesday that the US military had deployed a reconnaissance plane and ship in the Yellow Sea since mid-May for an imminent test-firing of a Dongfeng-31.

According to US intelligence information, China will launch the missile from a base in Shanxi province to a desert area in Xinjiang, north-west China, the report said.

Weapons sales

Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has threatened to invade if it declares independence.

China has long opposed sales of US military equipment to Taiwan.

But the US has promised to provide the island with enough weapons to defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

The act was approved when Washington re-established diplomatic ties with Beijing and downgraded them with Taipei.

Taiwan split from China in 1949 when nationalists fled to the island during the civil war against the communists.