– Says routine space vehicle test ‘a transparent act for peaceful use, not militarization’
BEIJING: China has snubbed a report that it tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile earlier this year, claiming instead that it was carrying out a spacecraft check focused on reusable technology.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said the Financial Times-reported “China’s test of new space capability with a hypersonic missile in August” was in fact a routine test of technology for reusing a space vehicle, and Chinese experts said that China has the right to test such technology for peaceful purpose regardless of how the US or the West demonizes it. If the US launches a space arms race, non-Western powers like China and Russia would be forced to turn their advanced capabilities into military use for strategic deterrence and self-defense, experts said.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a routine press conference on Monday that such a test is meant to lower the cost of using a space vehicle, and it can provide more low-cost measures for the peaceful use of space.
“Many companies in the world have conducted similar tests,” and the devices that separated from the space vehicle before the vehicle returns to Earth were assorted equipment of the vehicle, which get burned and break up upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere before splashing in international waters,” Zhao said. China will make joint efforts with all other countries on the peaceful use of space to benefit humanity, Zhao noted.
On Sunday, the FT reported that “China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise.
“The FT interviewed “five people familiar with the test” and they said “the Chinese military launched a rocket that carried a hypersonic glide vehicle which flew in low-orbit space before cruising towards its target,” and “the missile missed its target by about two dozen miles, according to three people briefed on the intelligence.”
But two said “the test showed that China had made astounding progress in hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realized.”
The FT report suggests that China is using space for military purposes but the report was based on anonymous sources and without evidence.
Chinese experts said that the West is getting nervous as they have underestimated China’s space capability for a very long time.
So when China shows its advanced space technology, even though it’s for peaceful use, some Western media and people will try to hype the “China threat theory,” because they believe that as long as other non-Western countries acquire advanced space technology, the US’s hegemony and monopoly in using space for non-peaceful purposes will be threatened.
“It is normal for China to test such reusable spacecraft technology, and common for such spacecraft to shed parts such as boosters when the main capsule re-enters the atmosphere.
Based on the Foreign Ministry’s statement, the purpose of such a study is for the peaceful use of space,” as it’s a reusable space vehicle, not a missile that needs to hit a target, said Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator.
Song noted that by releasing the information about the test, China has also shown its transparency in making such a test for the peaceful use of space, and China has the confidence to refute the rumors that suggest China is militarizing space.
The US is the one who started an arms race and militarization of space. The US has established the United States Space Force as its space service branch of the US Armed Forces, one of the eight US uniformed services, in 2019, which openly militarizes space.
–The Daily Mail-Global
Times news exchange item
