Taiwan has obtained permission from the US to test-fire US-built Patriot missiles on the island, defense officials said yesterday.
It will be the first time that the missiles will be tested outside the US.
The Patriots, designed to intercept incoming missiles, are an important part of Taiwan's defense against China's Dongfeng-31 -- a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach as far as the western US.
``We already have permission from the US to test the PAC-2 next year. All we have to do is sort out the details,'' said a military spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He did not say when the US gave its permission.
Taiwan's military has acquired 200 PAC-2 missiles, upgraded versions of the Patriots used by US forces during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Taiwan wants to buy six batteries of the PAC-3 -- the improved version of the PAC-2 -- from the US, to deploy in central and southern Taiwan.
The PAC-3 advanced missile is a "hit-and-kill" version of older anti-missile Patriots fired at Iraqi Scuds in the 1991 Gulf War.
Taiwan has test fired the Patriot missiles in the US, but the military wants to observe how they work in Taiwan's subtropical climate.
Defense minister Wu Shih-wen (
Yesterday, Wu verified reports in the Chinese-language media that China will test-fire the Dongfeng-31 missiles in the near future.
It would be China's fifth test of the missile and the flight path would likely be from the northern Shanxi region toward China's northwestern Xinjiang region, a local newspaper quoted Taiwanese security officials as saying.
Wu told legislators that Taiwan is able to monitor the missile test. Wu also called the Dongfeng missiles the ``greatest threat'' to Taiwan's national security.
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