BEIJING: China said today it had successfully tested a missile intercept system in what analysts described as a show of its advanced air defence capabilities amid tensions over US arms sales to Taiwan.

“China conducted a test of ground-based mid-range missile interception technology within its territory, which achieved its objective,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

“This test is defensive in nature and not targeted at any other country and is consistent with the national defence policy of China,” Jiang said.

The news comes soon after a US official in Taipei said the Pentagon had approved the sale of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan as part of a package passed by Congress more than a year ago.

Beijing — which considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to take the island back, by force if necessary — has repeatedly voiced its opposition to the sales and urged Washington to cancel the deal.

China’s defence ministry had warned at the weekend that it reserved the right to take unspecified action if Washington followed through with the sale, which it called a “severe obstacle” to China-US military ties.

The US is the leading arms supplier to Taiwan, even though it switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. But analysts said while China’s test would keep pressure on the United States over the Taiwan deals, it was likely to have been conducted as a general show of force.

Beijing has poured money into its military in recent years as part of a major drive to upgrade the equipment used by the nation’s 2.3-million-strong armed forces.

China’s military spending rose 15.3 percent in 2009 to 69 billion dollars, according to a budget submitted to parliament in March, the latest in more than a decade-long string of double-digit increases.

But amid growing concern overseas about China’s military intentions, Beijing frequently stresses the defensive nature of its armed forces. The Global Times quoted senior military strategist Yang Chengjun as saying that the test had “ushered China into a new phase in terms of missile interception technologies”.