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Taiwan plans to test-fire its newest anti-missile system for the first time in the United States in July, a defence source and media reports said on Monday.
The test of the US-made Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system would be launched at the White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico, in early July, a defence ministry source said, in a move likely to irk Beijing even though it was arranged before the island’s new president Tsai Ing-wen took office.
According to the source, the test will be conducted in the US to avoid Beijing collecting information about it, and due to space restrictions in Taiwan.
The American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy, would not comment on the test, which was also reported in Taiwan’s Liberty Times newspaper.
Despite having no official diplomatic ties with Taipei after recognising Beijing in 1979, the US is still Taiwan’s greatest ally and main arms supplier.
The missile system was purchased in 2008 and the test was approved by the US last year, according to the Liberty Times.
Taiwan bought the new PAC-3 – a system designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles near the end of their trajectory – as part of a US$6.5 billion arms sale by the US in 2008, which infuriated Beijing at the time.
The Taiwanese missile unit involved in the July drill will fire two missiles to intercept a missile launched by the US military, which simulates an incoming mainland Chinese ballistic missile, the Liberty Times reported.
Japan has also tested the PAC-3 on US soil.
Beijing insists self-ruling Taiwan is part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, even though the two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.
According to Taiwan’s defence ministry there are 1,500 Chinese missiles aimed at the island.
(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST)
