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US condemns China 'space weapon' Concern over China's missile test
(about 7 hours later)
The United States, Australia and Canada have criticised China over a weapons test it is said to have carried out in space last week. China is facing international criticism over a weapons test it reportedly carried out in space last week.
The Americans say the Chinese sent up a ballistic missile to destroy an ageing weather satellite. Japan has expressed concern, as have the US and Australia.
They say the test went against the spirit of co-operation both countries aspire to in the area of civil space. It is thought that the Chinese used a ground-based medium-range ballistic missile to slam into and destroy an old weather satellite.
Reports say Britain, South Korea and Japan were expected to express their concerns to China soon. Correspondents say this is the first known satellite intercepting test to have been conducted for more than 20 years.
US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe confirmed a report in the magazine, American Aviation Week and Space Technology. While the technology is not new, it does underline the growing capabilities of China's armed forces, according to a BBC correspondent in Beijing, Dan Griffiths.
The report cited space sources as saying a Chinese Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite, launched in 1999, was destroyed by an anti-satellite system launched from or near China's Xichang Space Centre in Sichuan Province on 11 January. Space arms race?
The impact occurred at more than 537 miles (865km) above Earth. Late on Thursday, US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe confirmed an article in the magazine American Aviation Week and Space Technology, which reported that the test had taken place.
"The US believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area," Mr Johndroe said. The report said that a Chinese Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite, launched in 1999, was destroyed by an anti-satellite system launched from or near China's Xichang Space Centre on 11 January.
"We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese." The Chinese have yet to confirm the test, which is thought to have occurred at more than 537 miles (865km) above Earth.
US space strategy Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, said his government had asked China for confirmation, and for an explanation of what its intentions were.
Last October, the US adopted a tough new policy aimed at protecting its interests in space. "We are concerned about it firstly from the point of view of peaceful use of space, and secondly from the safety perspective," Mr Shiozaki said.
The 10-page strategic document states that the US national security "is critically dependent upon space capabilities, and this dependence will grow". Mr Johndroe said the US "believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area".
"The United States will preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space... and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to US national interests," it says. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia did not want to see "some sort of spread, if you like, of an arms race into outer space".
The document rejects any proposals to ban space weapons. There are already growing international concerns about China's rising military power.
The White House said at the time that the policy did not call for the development or deployment of weapons in space. While Beijing keeps its defence spending a closely guarded secret, analysts suggest that it has grown rapidly in recent years.
But its strategic paper addressed concerns - voiced in a 2001 Pentagon report that said technological advances would enable potential enemies to disrupt orbiting US satellites. Space debris
During the Cold War, US President Ronald Reagan proposed a defence shield using laser or particle beam technology to "intercept and destroy" incoming nuclear missiles. The test, if confirmed, would mean that China could now theoretically shoot down spy satellites operated by other nations, although there is no evidence to suggest that the test was carried out with anything other than peaceful intentions.
The Strategic Defence Initiative, or "Star Wars" programme as it came to be known, was abandoned in 1993. It would be the first such test since the 1980s, when both the US and the Soviet Union destroyed satellites in space.
These tests were halted over concerns that the debris they produced could harm civilian and military satellite operations.
The same concerns have been raised about this latest reported test.
American Aviation Week and Space Technology said the move could have left "considerable space debris in an orbit used by many different satellites".
While the US may be unhappy about China's actions, the Washington administration has recently opposed international calls to end such tests.
It revised US space policy last October to state that Washington had the right to freedom of action in space, and the US is known to be researching such "satellite-killing" weapons itself.