Taiwan talks tough as carrier sets sails

Taiwan yesterday called its most advanced missile as "an aircraft carrier killer" - on the same day that China began sea trials of it first aircraft carrier.

At a defence exhibition, Taiwan brandished the indigenous Hsiung Feng III missile against the backdrop of a billboard depicting a missile-riddled aircraft carrier. The billboard bore the words: "Aircraft carrier killer".

The Hsiung Feng III has been deployed on Taiwan's Perry-class frigates but has never before been described as anti-carrier weapon.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949. China still claims Taiwan as its own and has vowed to bring it back into the fold by force if necessary.

Information about the Chinese carrier's maiden cruise was tightly restricted in line with the Chinese military's habitual secrecy. The 1,000ft vessel - a refitted Soviet ship - departed through fog from the northern port of Dalian ,where it is being overhauled.

China has spent the better part of a decade refurbishing the carrier, formerly known as the Varyag, after it was towed from Ukraine in 1998, minus its engines, weaponry and navigation systems.

China has defended its carrier programme by saying it is the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council that has not developed such vessels and that it has a huge coastline and vast maritime assets to defend. Beijing has also said its carriers would be employed in international humanitarian efforts, although the ex-Varyag's ski jump-style flight deck severely limits the loads its planes can carry.

Yesterday's exercise was essentially a test of the ship's propulsion system, with preparations to launch and recover aircraft still a long way off, said Andrei Chang, editor of Kanwa Asian Defence magazine.

"This was really just for show. They still have a long way to go," he said.