THE United States yesterday condemned reported Chinese missile tests in the Taiwan Strait as "provocative and reckless". Officials said they were considering new arms related sanctions ahead of high level talks.
Responding to reports of the tests, the White House spokesman, Mr Mike McCurry, told reporters', "These missile exercises, and indeed we have some reason to believe they have occurred, we consider both provocative and reckless."
The House of Representatives Speaker, Mr Newt Gingrich, went even further, branding the tests a "terrorist act".
Taiwan's Defence Ministry later said China had fired two surface to surface missile tests in two sea areas near the island, which Beijing considers a renegade province. The tests are seen as an attempt to intimidate Taipei before the island's first presidential elections are held on March 23rd.
"The Defence Ministry spokesman's office confirmed that communist China fired two surface to surface missiles this morning, a Defence Ministry statement said. "Of the missiles, one felt within the target area west of "Kaohsiung port and the other within the target area east of Kee-lung (port)," the statement added.
The target area off the booming southern port of Kaohsiung starts just 30 nautical miles off Taiwan's coast. The target zone off Kee-lung, another vital port, begins only 20 nautical miles from the coast.
Meanwhile, a senior US official disclosed that the administration is considering more sanctions against China, this time for transferring a new cruise missile to Iran.
"It is something that is under consideration in connection with that transfer," said Mr John Holum, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, when asked about possible sanctions.
Mr Holum spoke before US talks with a top Chinese official, Mr Liu Huaqiu, whose visit to Washington occurs amid rising tensions over Taiwan, trade and arms transfers.
But Taiwan will head the agenda when Mr Liu meets the Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, at 10 p.m. tonight Irish time.
Today, Mr Liu and the National Security Adviser, Mr Anthony Lake, will spend a day at an undisclosed venue outside Washington. The administration, aghast at rising tensions with such a strategically critical country, seems to be going out of its way to ensure Mr Liu is treated well.
. An Australian newspaper reports today that a secret Australian defence report from Beijing says the United States would send troops to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted an Australian diplomat in Beijing saying in the report he had been told by a senior US embassy an official in the Chinese capital that the US would deploy forces in Taiwan should China attack.