China confirms antisatellite test

China confirms antisatellite test
By Joseph Kahn
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: January 23, 2007


BEIJING: The Chinese government confirmed Tuesday it had conducted a successful test of a new antisatellite weapon, but said it had no intention of participating in a "space race."

The confirmation, made at a regular news briefing held by the Foreign Ministry, came 12 days after China used a medium-range ballistic missile to destroy one of its own weather satellites, which was orbiting about 860 kilometers, or 535 miles, above Earth.

The United States, Japan, Britain and Australia had pressed Beijing to explain the test, apparently the first successful destruction in more than 20 years of a satellite in orbit.

Despite numerous press reports last week quoting Bush administration officials describing the exercise in detail, Chinese officials declined to confirm or deny whether it had occurred. Liu Jianchao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, issued the first official comment on the matter Tuesday.

"This test was not directed at any country and does not constitute a threat to any country," he said.
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"What needs to be stressed is that China has always advocated the peaceful use of space, opposes the weaponization of space and an arms race in space," he said. "China has never participated and will never participate in any arms race in outer space."

Liu did not say why the 2nd Artillery Battalion of the People's Liberation Army had conducted the test. He also did not directly address concerns that shattering a satellite in low-earth orbit might be perceived as inconsistent with China's repeated calls to ban the use of weapons in space.

Beijing's prolonged silence about the test, which American intelligence officials said took place on Jan. 11, raised speculation about China's intentions and the circumstances surrounding the firing of the missile.

Senior Bush administration officials raised the possibility that the blackout of information may have reflected the autonomy and isolation of the military. They said they could not be sure that President Hu Jintao, who oversees the military and the ruling Communist Party, had personally authorized or overseen the test.

Liu denied Tuesday that officials had taken too much time before speaking publicly.

"China has nothing to hide," he said. "After various parties expressed concerns, we explained this test in outer space to them."

Japanese and American officials said that China did not volunteer any information about the test until they had made formal diplomatic inquiries, and that it took at least four days to get a reply.

Independent experts on the Chinese military said that China has sought a workable antisatellite weapon since the 1980s. It has experimented with using lasers and kinetic force, such as missiles or other satellites, to disable or destroy satellites in orbit.

One reason is that the United States military depends heavily on satellites for missile guidance, navigation and communications, and any widespread damage to that infrastructure would hamper military action overseas.

China has long feared that the United States might intervene in the event of a military conflict with Taiwan, and it has invested heavily in new weapons that experts say are geared toward giving it the power to attack Taiwan while keeping American forces at bay.

But others said China's intentions in conducting this test may have been more diplomatic in nature, designed to pressure the United States to negotiate a treaty to ban weapons in space. Russia and China have pressed for such a treaty, but the Bush administration has declined to participate in such talks.

Over the summer, President George W. Bush authorized a new space policy that seeks to preserve "freedom of action" in space, and he said that the United States reserves the right to use force against countries that seek to disrupt American satellites.

Xu Guangyu, a former Chinese Army officer and an official at the government-run China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said that the antisatellite test amounted to an attempt to redefine the "rules of the game" and bring the United States to the negotiating table. "What China is saying is, Let's sit down and talk," Xu said. "There is a trend toward weaponization of space that no one, especially China, wants to see."

He criticized the Bush administration for declining to join international negotiations on the issue. He said that the United States and the former Soviet Union first used antisatellite weapons in the 1980s.

"It is purely catch-up," he said. "Our policy of using space for peaceful purposes absolutely has not changed."

China has rapidly become the world's third major space power, after Russia and the United States. In 2003, a Chinese astronaut circled the earth in a space vehicle. China also plans to send a robot to the moon by 2017.