DATE=8/2/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CHINA-MISSILE (L) NUMBER=2-252394 BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON DATELINE=BEIJING CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: China says it successfully test-launched a new kind of long range ground-to-ground missile Monday, although the announcement from the official Xinhua news agency gave no further details. V-O-A correspondent Roger Wilkison reports the test comes amid a dispute between China and Taiwan over the island's insistence that it be treated as an equal in talks with Beijing. TEXT: It is not clear what type of missile China tested, but one western military attache in Beijing says he suspects it may be an updated version of the East Wind. He says the East Wind 31, which China was expected to deploy next year, is supposed to have a range of eight-thousand kilometers. The East Wind 31, he adds, would be able to carry a single nuclear warhead and is a replacement for the East Wind 4, which dates back to the 1960's. Last Saturday, on the eve of the anniversary of China's People's Liberation Army, the English-language China Daily newspaper praised the armed forces for - in its words - working hard to catch up with the world's military powers. In a front-page article, the daily said many of China's missiles can match the leading missiles of the world. It also said China has the ability to launch missiles from submarines. The missile test takes place three weeks after Taiwan said it should be treated as a separate state in any negotiations with Beijing. That unleashed a stream of belligerent rhetoric from China's official news media and threats by the Chinese military to use force if Taiwan formally declares independence. China regards the island as a wayward province. Although both China and Taiwan have officially espoused the idea of eventual reunification, Taiwan has chafed under Beijing's unrelenting efforts to deny it any international living space. In recent days, there have been reports in the Hong Kong news media of military maneuvers along China's coast facing Taiwan. But China's Defense Ministry has either denied or refused to comment on such reports. Just days after Taiwan set off the latest cross-strait tension by insisting it should be treated as a state, China announced it had perfected the technology to make the neutron bomb, which kills people but does not destroy infrastructure. (signed) neb/rw/gc/jo/plm/kl 02-Aug-1999 06:48 AM LOC (02-Aug-1999 1048 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
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