China space missile row grows

CHINA yesterday insisted it was opposed to an arms race in space amid growing international concern over a missile test which destroyed one of its own satellites.

The United States said China used a ground-based ballistic missile to hit an ageing weather satellite on 11 January, scattering dangerous debris that could damage other satellites and raising risks of escalating military rivalry in outer space.

It was the first known experiment of its type in more than 20 years. Analysts said China's weather satellites would travel at about the same altitude as US spy satellites, so the test represented an indirect threat to US defence systems.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman refused to confirm or deny the incident, but said Beijing wanted no arms race in space.

"I can't say anything about the reports. I really don't know. I've only seen the foreign reports," Liu Jianchao said.

"What I can say is that, as a matter of principle, China advocates the peaceful use of space and opposes the weaponisation of space, and also opposes any form of arms race."

The last US anti-satellite test took place in 1985. Washington then halted such Cold War-era testing, concerned that debris could harm civilian and military satellite operations.

The US, UK, Australia, Canada and Japan, which has become increasingly alarmed about its giant neighbour's rising military strength, all expressed worries about the move.

"We are concerned about it, firstly from the point of view of peaceful use of space and secondly from the safety perspective," Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, said.

Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer, who was in New York, said: "Our concern about this is that to have a capacity to shoot down satellites in outer space is not consistent with ... the traditional Chinese position of opposition to the militarisation of outer space. So we've asked the Chinese for an explanation as to what this may mean."

Dana Perino, deputy White House press secretary, said that Chinese officials had not yet responded to concerns expressed by the US.

"We do want co-operation on a civil space strategy, so until we hear back from them or have more information, I don't have any more to add," she said.

But Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov said he was sceptical about the reported test. "I'm afraid that it didn't have an anti-satellite basis. And, maybe, it's good that it didn't," he said.

In the UK, Tony Blair's spokesman said: "We have concern about the impact of debris in space and we've expressed that concern."

The spokesman said Britain did not believe the Chinese test had contravened international law, but it was concerned by the lack of consultation.

The test was "inconsistent with the spirit of China's statement to the UN and other bodies on the military use of space", he added.

According to David Wright of the Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists, the satellite pulverised by China could have broken into nearly 40,000 fragments up to four inches, roughly half of which would stay in orbit for more than a decade.

The United States has been researching its own satellite-killers - lasers on the ground that could disable, disrupt and destroy spacecraft.