Taiwan sounds alarm on Chinese missiles, space test

TAIPEI, Jan 22 (Reuters) Taiwan said today that the number of Chinese missiles aimed at the island now stood at 900, and slammed Beijing's recent satellite-killing test as the behaviour of a ''military superpower''.

''This action is ... bad for regional security,'' cabinet spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang said, after a military spokesman confirmed reports of the missiles pointing across the Taiwan Strait.

''This does not fit with Communist China's 'peaceful rise'.

They say one thing and do another,'' he said.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said last August that China had deployed about 820 missiles along its southeast coast.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Beijing has vowed to bring the self-governed democracy of 23 million people back under mainland rule, by force if necessary.

The government also expressed concern about reports that China used a medium-range ballistic missile on January 11 to knock out an ageing Chinese weather satellite by crashing into it.

China has declined to confirm or deny the satellite-killing test, which would be the first exercise of its kind in 20 years.

The report has raised concerns among Western countries about the scattering of debris that could damage other satellites and the risk of an arms race in space.

Cheng said Taiwan opposed the reported satellite move as that of a ''military superpower'' and questioned China's commitment to keeping peace in space.

Commentators have highlighted the risk for Taiwan in particular if Beijing had the capability to knock out US satellites watching over the strait between the island and the Chinese mainland.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but is obliged by the Taiwan Relations Act to defend the island.

ARMS PACKAGE WRANGLE The latest figure for the missiles pointing across the strait came days after Taiwan's divided parliament delayed voting on a bill that could authorise purchases of advanced US military planes and submarines for defence against China.

''(President) Chen (Shui-bian) brings up the number every once in a while to push the budget,'' said Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief with the Washington DC-based Defense News.

The independence-leaning president has long sought passage of the budget, citing Chinese threats. The opposition Nationalists, who favour closer ties with China, have stalled the arms package, arguing it is too expensive, unnecessary and provocative.

The United Daily News, a Chinese-language paper in Taiwan, today cited unidentified US sources as saying that the M-9 and M-11 missiles could travel between 300 and 600 km and that Taiwan's missile defence would not be effective.

Taiwan officials said last March that China could use its missiles to sustain a ten-hour attack.

REUTERS BDP KP1334