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China Says Space Program No Threat, But Many Disagree

It will still take many years more of research and vast investments in many key areas before China catches up with the US military technology base.

Reports of Chinese satellite shoot-down 'rumours': Russia
Moscow (AFP) Jan 19 - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov on Friday dismissed as "rumours" reports that China had shot down a satellite for the first time, news agency Interfax reported. "I have heard announcements about it, and they are fairly abstract," Interfax quoted Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, as saying. "The rumours are greatly exaggerated."

Speaking of the Chinese rockets that the United States says shot down an ageing weather satellite last week, Ivanov said: "I very much fear that they don't have an anti-satellite basis." China denies carrying out such a test, although officials in Australia, Japan, North Korea, Taiwan and the United States have expressed concern about what several of them suggested was a step toward the militarisation of space.

If the reports were to be confirmed, China would be the third country after the United States and the former Soviet Union to shoot down an object in space. "Russia has opposed and will continue to oppose any militarisation of outer space," Ivanov said.

by Karl Malakunas
Beijing (AFP) Jan 19, 2007
Like its cheap exports, rising military budget and quest for oil, China insists its space program is of no threat to the rest of the world -- but many do not agree. The United States, Japan, Australia and a host of other countries voiced concern on Friday after Washington said China last week had shot down one of its own satellites for the first time in a test exercise.

If confirmed, China would become the third country after the United States and the former Soviet Union to shoot down anything in space, indicating the Asian power could target satellites operated by other nations.

China refused to either publicly confirm or deny the US claims on Friday, although Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said the Chinese had sought to reassure Japan its intentions in space were of no threat to anyone.

"China consistently uses space only for peaceful purposes," Aso quoted the Chinese foreign ministry as saying.

The comments fit with the ruling Communist Party's mantra in recent years that the nation's rise as a world superpower should not be feared.

China joined the exclusive club of top space nations in 2003 when it sent up its first manned mission, joining the United States and Russia.

In 2005 China launched a second orbiting mission with two astronauts. It is aiming for a Chinese astronaut to perform a spacewalk as early as next year and hopes to send an unmanned probe to the Moon by 2010.

China spends 500 million dollars a year on its space programmes, according to official figures, while NASA's proposed budget for 2007 is nearly 17 billion dollars.

But the United States has consistently deflected Chinese advances for closer cooperation on the two nations' space programmes because of concerns about the involvement of China's military.

A Chinese government defence paper released last month said that its defence expenditure had grown by more than 15 percent every year since 1990.

In an article last year in the Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily, researchers at the National Defense University wrote that outer space was emerging as a possible theatre of operations for China's armed forces.

The analysis, which raised eyebrows around the world, listed space as an area where the People's Liberation Army must be equipped and prepared to defend the nation's interests.

"Our military should not only protect China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, but should also protect the oceans and transport routes and other economic interests as well as ... the security of space," it said.

But a government white paper released late last year on China's space aims mentioned them in vague, less threatening terms.

"China considers the development of its space industry as a strategic way to enhance its economic, scientific, technological and national defence strength," it said.

earlier related report
China plays down fears after satellite shot down
Beijing (AFP) Jan 20 - China Friday played down fears of a military space race after US spy agencies said it had shot down a satellite for the first time, drawing condemnation from Washington and its Asian allies.

"There's no need to feel threatened about this," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told journalists, while declining to confirm the incident.

"We are not going to get into any arms race in space," he said.

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

If confirmed, the test would mean China could now theoretically shoot down spy satellites operated by other nations.

On Friday Washington voiced concern the test may also have scattered debris in space that could endanger the manned International Space Station or orbiting satellites.

"I think you've certainly seen, given the history of some of the events of manned space flights, that small things can cause very big problems," US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

US magazine Aviation Week and Space Technology, which first reported the test, said the missile was fired from the Xichang space center in central Sichuan province on January 11 and had destroyed a Chinese weather satellite launched in 1999.

The impact reportedly occurred more than 500 miles (800 kilometres) above Earth, high enough to hit orbiting satellites.

As well as the issue of orbiting debris, Washington was particularly concerned the test could signal a possible arms race in space, Casey added.

"We don't want to see a situation where there is any militarisation of space," he said.

Washington for now has virtual supremacy in space, with Russia having lost much of its means and China generally still just starting out.

The Chinese are "behind the United States and behind Russia in their ability to use space for military purposes. But they have a very serious program to build up their capabilities," Theresa Hitchens, the director of the Centre for Defence Information, told AFP in Washington.

But "in 20 years, they are quite likely to be a very powerful space power," she said.

Beijing could be trying to force Washington into negotiations about a weapons ban in space, or it could be planning to hold US satellites at risk.

"It is ominous. It could well be the beginning of a new arms race in space. And that would be very dangerous," Hitchens said.

An arms rivalry in space would look different than the traditional kind of competition, added Michael Krepon, a defence expert at the Henry L. Stimson Centre in the US.

"This will be a very different kind of race, since it does not take big numbers to make a mess of space. But there will be a competition of sorts, with major space powers preparing to use diverse means to negate the use of satellites, if push comes to shove," Krepon said.

Japan, which has long been concerned at China's rapidly growing military spending, joined the US administration in its condemnation of the test.

Foreign Minister Taro Aso said the test was "questionable from the viewpoint of peaceful use (of space) because there could be concerns of scattered debris."

In Taiwan, which China considers a province awaiting reunification, defence ministry spokesman Wu Chi-fang said: "Any weapons developed by China would affect the security in the Taiwan Strait."

South Korea conveyed its concern, while Australia summoned China's ambassador.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman told reporters that British officials had raised the matter with China voicing concern over the lack of consultation.

"We believe that this development of this technology and the manner in which this test was conducted is inconsistent with the spirit of China's statements to the UN and other bodies on the military use of space," he said.

If confirmed, it would be the first case since the 1980s when the Soviet Union and the United States both destroyed satellites in space. The two superpowers ceased the tests largely because of the problem of debris.

China, which in 2003 became the third country to carry out a manned space mission, can now theoretically shoot down spy satellites operated by Europe, Israel, Japan, Russia and the United States, Aviation Week said.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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No Response From China On US Space Complaints Says White House
Washington (AFP) Jan 19, 2007
China has yet to respond to US concerns about its space program, the White House said Friday, adding that Washington hopes for "cooperation on a civil space strategy" with Beijing. "We've expressed our concern to the Chinese, both to our Chinese officials here in (Washington), DC and in Beijing," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.







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