A US defense official on Thursday said Taiwanese criticism of the Patriot anti-missile system was groundless.
During a legislative session on Monday, Vice Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-ming (
Due to the poor performance of the system, Chen said that Taiwan would ask the US to improve the system before the government buys the latest version.
Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense, said Chen was wrong.
"Chen's criticism about the low interception rate of the PAC-3 air defense system against Iraqi missiles in the US-Iraq war was absolutely incorrect," he said. "The interception rate of the system was actually 100 percent."
Sources said on Thursday that the US was unhappy about Chen's comments. Taipei's representatives to Washington have explained to the George W. Bush administration that Chen made the comments because he was misled by information provided by his aides.
According to Davis, Iraq fired 10 Ababil 100 and al-Samoud missiles into Kuwait. Seven of the missiles were considered "threatening" and were all intercepted by the PAC-3 system deployed there.
Davis said that the US was satisfied with the performance of the system and that it would continue to play an important role in the US defense system.
Sources said that tests on the newest PAC-3 version had been completed and that the US would carry out an overall evaluation of the system when the war was over.
They said that the US would send its evaluation report to Taiwan, and that it was unwise for the government to prematurely criticize the system.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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