China vents anger with missile test  By Peter J Brown  China has
conducted a successful “defensive” anti-missile test with the
intent of sending the United States a stern message of
disapproval over Washington’s latest arms sales to Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu described the
January 11 event as a test of “ground-based midcourse missile
interception technology” conducted “within its territory”. It
was defensive in nature and targeted at no country, she said.
The test “is just a game about the US sales of weapons to
Taiwan; about the non-proliferation of missiles; and about
the prevention of an arms race in outer space between the US and
China.” according to Li Shouping, professor in international law
at the School of Law of Beijing Institute of Technology and
director of the Institute of Space Law.  The test was a direct
response to the US Department of Defense decision on January 6
to sell weapons, including the Patriot III anti-missile system,
to Taiwan, Li said in a commentary at