China says in no rush to talk politics with Taiwan
Visitors walk past a Hongqi-2 Missile in the hall of weapons at the Chinese Military Museum, in Beijing January 4, 2009. China may be planning to slowly reduce the number of missiles aimed at Taiwan in a significant show of goodwill towards the self-ruled island, a Taiwanese military official said on Sunday. REUTERS

Despite the ongoing talks to improve ties with former arch-rival Taiwan, China is going to target 1,800 missiles at the country in 2012, reported the Liberty Times newspaper on Friday citing a military intelligence report.

Experts said that over 1,600 missiles are aimed at Taiwan by China currently, and most of them are deployed in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in the mainland's southeast.

Taiwan's top intelligence chief Tsai Teh-sheng said in March that that China was targeting Taiwan with a new type of powerful missile known as Dongfeng 16. However, he didn't provide any further details of the weapon or the number that have been deployed so far.

Although tensions across the Taiwan Strait have eased after Ma Ying-jeou took over as Taiwan's president in 2008, Beijing has not completely refused the possibility of using force against the island.

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