My World Earth: China says it has successfully tested military technology which intercepts missiles in mid-air.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

China says it has successfully tested military technology which intercepts missiles in mid-air.

China says it has successfully tested military technology which intercepts missiles in mid-air.

A brief report on the state news agency said the test had been defensive and had not been targeted at any country.

The test came a few days after the US approved selling air defence missiles to Taiwan despite Chinese protests.

China - which regards Taiwan as part of its territory - has warned the US that relations could be disrupted if the sale goes ahead.

'Objective achieved'

A three-line statement from the official news agency Xinhua said only that China had tested a ground-based "missile interception technology" that had "achieved its expected objective".

China has dramatically increased defence spending in the past few years, in a bid to modernise its People's Liberation Army.

Taiwan estimates China has up to 1,500 missiles aimed at the self-ruled island.

Beijing is also thought to be building a navy that could block the US military from reaching the region if fighting broke out between China and Taiwan.

Taiwan relies on US arms sales and a guarantee of protection for its defence - and on 7 January the US agreed the sale of Patriot air defence missile systems to the island.

Several days beforehand, China warned such a deal could damage relations.

"We urge the US to recognise the gravity of selling arms to Taiwan," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

In the past, China has threatened to use force to reunite Taiwan with the mainland if the island declares formal independence.

But relations have improved since President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008.

China has said it successfully tested a missile intercept system, in what analysts said was a show of its advanced air defence capabilities amid tensions over US arms sales to Taiwan.

"China conducted a test on ground-based midcourse missile interception technology within its territory. The test has achieved the expected objective," Xinhua news agency said of Monday's test in a brief dispatch.

"The test is defensive in nature and is not targeted at any country," it added, without giving any specifics about the technology used.

The news comes soon after a US official in Taipei said the Pentagon had approved the sale of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan as part of a package passed by Congress more than a year ago.

Beijing -- which considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to take the island back, by force if necessary -- has repeatedly voiced its opposition to the sales and urged Washington to cancel the deal.

China's defence ministry had warned at the weekend that it reserved the right to take unspecified action if Washington followed through with the sale, which it called a "severe obstacle" to China-US military ties.

The United States is the leading arms supplier to Taiwan, even though it switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

But analysts said while the test would keep pressure on the United States over the Taiwan weapons sales, it was likely conducted as a general show of force, rather than for Washington's benefit, especially given the preparation time needed.

"It sounds pretty significant to me," Richard Bitzinger, an expert on China's military at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, told AFP.

"The information is pretty thin, but the critical fact is that they conducted a successful missile intercept."

Arthur Ding, an expert at Taiwan's National Chengchi University, said the test would send a "political signal to the United States and to other countries that China is prepared for air operations, full-scale operations by whatever country."

"Frankly speaking, there is no detailed information so it is very hard to assess how much China has achieved, but at least it can show a trend that air defence is an area of focus for the overall military modernisation," he said.

Beijing has poured money into its military in recent years as part of a major drive to upgrade the equipment used by the nation's 2.3-million-strong armed forces.

China's military spending rose 15.3 percent in 2009 to 69 billion dollars, according to a budget submitted to parliament in March, the latest in more than a decade-long string of double-digit increases.

But amid growing concern overseas about China's military intentions, Beijing frequently stresses the defensive nature of its armed forces.

The Global Times quoted senior military strategist Yang Chengjun as saying that the test had "ushered China into a new phase in terms of missile interception technologies".

"China needs an improved capability and more means of military defence as the country faces increasing security threats," Yang was quoted as saying.

One Western military expert based in Beijing, who asked not to be identified, told AFP: "What's important is that they showed their willingness to demonstrate China's capabilities."

Ding said the recent test was quite different than one in 2007 that saw China destroy one of its own orbiting satellites with a missile, sparking international concerns.

That test came after the United States, under former president George W. Bush, announced a robust US plan to weaponise space -- a move vocally countered by Beijing and Moscow.

Monday's missile intercept test "has to do with China's own comprehensive air defence system... defence against cruise missiles and against ballistic missiles in the future, or any other air war operations," Ding said.

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