Japan said its national security had been threatened and demanded a better explanation from Beijing, while Taiwan warned China's actions had endangered regional peace.

"Regarding having conducted the test, China has already notified other parties," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters, naming the United States and Japan as nations that had been directly told.

"But China stresses that it has consistently advocated the peaceful development of outer space and it opposes the arming of space and military competition in space.

"China has never, and will never, participate in any form of a space arms race."

The White House said last week that China had used a missile to destroy an old Chinese weather satellite on January 11, making it the third country after the United States and the former Soviet Union to shoot down an object in space.

The test meant that China could theoretically shoot down spy satellites operated by other nations.

The US, Japan and others had also complained that China had failed to adequately explain why it had gone ahead with the test.

Liu dismissed complaints that China had not been transparent about the issue.

"China has nothing to hide. After the relevant parties expressed their concerns, we made our response quickly," he said.

"Since many countries have expressed concern, there was a need to explain... on this issue, China has been responsible."

But Japan said on Tuesday after Liu's announcement that it was not satisfied.

"The destruction of a satellite by a ballistic missile... raises great concerns in our country from the viewpoint of the safe use of outer space, as well as national security," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said.

The top government spokesman said the Chinese foreign ministry had informed the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Monday that China had conducted "one experiment in space recently."

"It was insufficient," Shiozaki said of the notification.

"If transparency is not properly ensured in such a case, it provokes doubts and fears," he said.

Taiwan said China's actions in developing space weaponry and deploying more ballistic missiles targeting the island were endangering regional peace.

"Should war break out in the Taiwan Strait, China would be able to use its anti-satellite weaponry to attack the military satellites of other countries," including those of the United States, air force Major General Wang Cheng-hsiao told reporters.

Analysts say Taiwan does not operate its own spy satellites, but relies heavily on US satellites for intelligence information on the Chinese military.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must eventually be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

After destroying satellites in space in the 1980s, the United States and the Soviet Union ended their programmes, largely because of the problem of debris.

But despite US protests against China, President George W. Bush's administration has opposed international calls to end all tests, saying in a policy paper last year the United States had the right to "freedom of action" in space.

Analysts have said Washington is concerned that China's test has shown it is starting to make inroads into the US' virtual supremacy in space, and highlights Beijing's rising military power.

The US Defense Department says China is spending two to three times more on its military than the 35 billion dollars a year it has acknowledged.

earlier related report
Taiwan says China's military buildup endangering regional peace
Taipei (AFP) Jan 23 - Taiwan on Tuesday warned China's actions in developing space weaponry and deploying more ballistic missiles targeting the island were endangering regional peace.

China on Tuesday confirmed it had conducted a test of an anti-satellite weapon, saying it had informed the US of its actions.

Analysts say Taiwan does not operate its own spy satellites, but relies heavily on US satellites for intelligence information on the Chinese military.

"Should war break out in the Taiwan Strait, China would be able to use its anti-satellite weaponry to attack the military satellites of other countries," including those of the United States, air force Major General Wang Cheng-hsiao told reporters.

Washington said last week China had fired a missile to destroy an orbiting weather satellite, making it only the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to shoot down an object in space.

Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters Tuesday that "Regarding having conducted the test, China has already notified other parties and has also notified the American side."

Beijing stressed that "it has consistently advocated the peaceful development of outer space and it opposes the arming of space and military competition in space... China has never, and will never, participate in any form of space arms race."

Wang also confirmed reports that Beijing had built up a huge arsenal of missiles facing Taiwan, up from 160 ballistic missiles in 1996.

"As of now the Chinese communists have stockpiled 880 ballistic missiles and more than 100 cruise missiles, placing the whole of Taiwan under their range," Wang said, after similar numbers were reported by local media.

"These missiles indeed pose a serious threat to Taiwan," he said.

Taiwan has deployed three US-made Patriot anti-missile batteries to defend the densely populated greater Taipei area, and is seeking to purchase more to shield the entire island.

Wang also called attention to the fact that China had put into service about 60 J-10 aircraft, whose combat capabilities are tipped to be the equivalent of the F-16 A/Bs in Taiwan's air force.

"Armed with these airplanes, as well as Su-27s and Su-30s, China will have supremacy over Taiwan in the air," he warned.

In the face of the perceived Chinese military threat, Taiwan planned to lift its military spending, which would account for 2.85 percent of gross domestic product in 2007, up from 2.32 percent in 2005, said Vice Admiral Tung Hsiang-lung.

China has repeatedly threatened to invade Taiwan should the island declare formal independence. It regards the self-governing island as part of its territory since a split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

Tensions between Taiwan and China have escalated since the independence-leaning Chen Shui-bian was elected president in 2000. He was narrowly re-elected in 2004.

US military power seen at risk by China's satellite-busting ability
Washington (AFP) Jan 23 - China's new satellite-killing capability threatens US military supremacy in Asia, especially Washington's ability to swiftly come to Taiwan's defense, American experts say.

The United States is Taiwan's security guarantor against any possible Chinese invasion. But the recent successful test of a Chinese satellite destruction missile raises the prospect of Beijing scuttling America's critical satellite network in a possible war.

"The prospect of losing a good chunk of our satellite coverage, our satellite network in space in a Taiwan combat scenario really does change the equation for American planners on how we approach the defense of Taiwan should it need it," John Tkacik, a former State Department expert on China, told AFP.

Taiwan has several satellites up in orbit now, including two imaging ones used for intelligence and surveillance purposes.

If the Chinese pursued the satellites during hostilities, it could cause Washington to have second thoughts about getting involved.

"If especially the United States felt that its satellites were equally vulnerable, it's a disturbing new development," said Tkacik, the former chief of China analysis in the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research.

US officials revealed last week that China had destroyed one of its own orbiting weather satellites earlier this month using a ballistic missile, making it the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to shoot down an object in space.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao confirmed the test on Tuesday and said it had already notified Washington.

He insisted however that China never has, "and will never, participate in any form of space arms race."

The successful test -- the first such intercept in more than 20 years -- means China can theoretically shoot down spy satellites or other orbiters operated by other nations, sparking fears of a space-based arms race.

"There has been long a desire on China's part to try to have weapons to shoot down or at least interfere with American satellites which America depends upon in order to meet its defense commitment in Asia," said former senior Pentagon official Dan Blumenthal.

"So it very much puts in the minds of American planners, policy makers how to overcome this now more costly commitment," he said.

Blumenthal said Taiwan will be a "central" issue of the China's satellite-killing capability because the most likely flashpoint between Washington and Beijing is over Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

Amid the active competition in space, "the United States is going to be taking countermeasures to protect its satellite constellations," he said.

Stratfor, an American security and intelligence think-tank, said Beijing's first attempts to control space would not be an effort to match US capabilities but "rather to become master of its own domain above East Asia.

"Facing the major competitor in all of space, China will tailor its offensive space capability specifically toward countering US dominance -- at least in part," it said.

Japan and other challengers to Beijing's regional hegemony, however, will not be far behind, Stratfor added.

The United States has a military alliance with Japan, which harbors US troops mostly in Okinawa, strategically close to the Taiwan Strait.

Since the Persian Gulf War about 20 years ago, Washington has been saying that the strategic center of American military and naval power is its space networks.

"The way that the United States communicates, transmits data, gets a picture of the battle space, gathers 90 percent of its intelligence, is through its space networks. And without that we are blinded, we are made deaf and dumb, and you simply couldn't function," Tkacik said.

He said space networks were particularly crucial to defending Taiwan and Japan.

"If it was just a local conflict and we are suddenly blinded, I think we could handle that. But in a large area like Okinawa, Taiwan, Taiwan Strait, I think it would be very difficult to communicate between ships and (from) aircraft to ships to find out where the enemy is," he said.

The US Defense Department says China is spending two to three times more on its military than the 35 billion dollars a year it has acknowledged.

A department report last year concluded that while Taiwan appears to be the near-term focus of China's military spending, the build-up poses a potential threat to the United States over the longer term.

China has consistently maintained that its military build-up is for defensive purposes only, while claiming that it has no history of invading other countries.

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