VERONICA PEDROSA, CNN ANCHOR: Taiwan has conducted a second day of tests of its Patriot missiles. As Lisa Rose Weaver reports from Beijing, China is making its displeasure known.</s>LISA ROSE WEAVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An American missile test firing in Taiwan. For China, which considers the island a renegade province, American influence has come too close.</s>ZHANG QIYUE, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN (through translator): The Chinese side expresses its strong opposition towards this. We urge the U.S. to stop this military cooperation with Taiwan so as not to harm the U.S.-Chinese relationship.</s>WEAVER: Beijing worries the Patriots could stop a missile attack from the mainland and create a missile defense against China's own weapons pointed at the island. Underlying that fear are broader concerns about proliferation on China's doorstep, say analysts.</s>XAN XUETONG, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY: If the U.S. takes the lead to proliferate, and the missile technology, and no one can stop it, then a lot of countries will follow their suit. I think that's really dangerous.</s>WEAVER: Meanwhile, China's Peoples' Liberation Army is pushing ahead with some of the largest drills the mainland has ever held, including a reported, but unconfirmed mock attack on an island in the Taiwan Straits. Taiwan insists its own missile testing is unconnected to Beijing's maneuvers. (on camera): Whatever the real defensive capability the Patriots provide Taiwan, the symbolism is strong. Taiwan's leadership has been drifting farther away from negotiating its political future with the mainland. Indeed, Taiwan's missile tests appear to propel the island further into its own political space. Lisa Rose Weaver, CNN, Beijing.
American Missile Test Firing in Taiwan Displeases China