Taiwan successfully test-fired its US-made Patriot anti-missile system yesterday in what military experts hailed as a boost to the island's ability to defend itself against an attack by China.
The test coincided with China's staging of a major military exercise on Dongshan island, off its eastern coast, which analysts described as the biggest by the People's Liberation Army in five years.
Taiwan's Defence Ministry, however, insisted that this was just a coincidence and denied that the test-firing had been designed as a show of strength against a background of heightened tensions across the Taiwan strait.
Taiwan's military news agency released a film showing what it said was a Taiwanese Tienkung II missile fired from the south-east of the island being intercepted and hit by a Patriot fired from Chiupeng military base.
"All the Patriots precisely hit the targets," army general headquarters said in a statement.
"Upon hearing the good news, President Chen Shui-bian sent a congratulatory message to the army," it said.
The state-funded Central News Agency said three Patriots were fired, the first as a trial. Two others then hit a missile and a drone, or unmanned aircraft.
The test was conducted with the assistance of technicians from the manufacturer of the Patriot system, Raytheon Co, and contract supplier Lockheed Martin.
The testing of the system is expected to irritate Beijing, whose relations with Washington have been strained since President Bush took power. In April, Mr Bush approved the biggest arms package for Taiwan in a decade.
"The successful testing of the anti-missile weaponry will help boost the public confidence against China's growing military threat," said Mr Wung Minghsien, head of Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies.
China has at least 300 ballistic missiles stationed along its south-east coast and targeted on Taiwan. The island's defence ministry expects the number to reach 800 by 2006.
Taiwan bought three batteries of PAC II Plus missiles, the improved version of the first Patriot, from the US in 1993.