BEIJING: China’s newly formed Rocket Force has showcased an advancedballistic missile with a range of more than 1,000 km that canhittargetsinIndia, Japanand Taiwan.

AP FILEDF­16 short­range ballistic missiles pass Tiananmen Gate during a military parade in Beijing.

A video from the People’s Liberation Army showed its Rocket Force personnelshowcasing the DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile at an unknown location.

Thevideowasreleasedwithin a day of US defence chief James Mattis visiting Tokyo. On Monday, Japan said Chinese coast guardvesselssailedinsideitsterritorial waters around the disputedDiaoyuislands(Senkakuin Japanese) in the East China Sea, soon after Mattis said the US would defend Tokyo’s control over them. “Three ships entered thewaterssurroundingtheuninhabited chain,” the Japan Coast Guard said in a statement. The islands are controlled by Japan.

hina’s state media issued a veiled warning to neighbours, especiallyJapan, aboutthecapabilities of the DF-16 missile, whichwasfirstrevealedatamilitaryparadeinBeijinginSeptember 2015.

“ExpertssaidtheDF-16posesa challenge to foreign military installationsalongthefirstisland chain, whichiswhattheChinese militarycallstheseriesofislands that stretch from Japan in the north to China’s Taiwan and the Philippines to the south,” staterun China Daily reported.

Quoting a retired major general, thereportsaidtheDF-16has a strike range of more than 1,000 km, “filling the gap that previouslyexistedwiththeabsenceof amedium-rangeballisticmissile in the PLA’s arsenal”.