China says opposed to arms race in space

BEIJING, Jan 19 (Reuters) China opposes arms races in outer space, a spokesman for the country's foreign ministry said today, while refusing to confirm or deny that China destroyed a satellite in what the US called a provocative military test.

Washington officials said yesterday that China had shot apart a satellite on January 11, scattering dangerous debris that could damage other satellites and raising risks of escalating military rivalry in outer space.

The United States said China used a ground-based ballistic missile to knock out an ageing Chinese weather satellite about 865 km above Earth.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that while he had read foreign reports of the test, he could not shed any light on their accuracy.

''I can't say anything about the reports. I really don't know; I've only seen the foreign reports,'' he told Reuters.

But China was opposed to putting weapons in space, Liu added.

''What I can say is that, as a matter of principle, China advocates the peaceful use of space and opposes the weaponisation of space, and also opposes any form of arms race,'' he said. ''China will not participate in any kind of arms race in outer space.'' Washington has been warily monitoring Beijing's efforts to beef up its military strength, and in October the Bush administration revised US national space policy to assert a right to deny space access to anyone hostile to US interests.

The last US anti-satellite test took place in September 13, 1985. Washington then halted such Cold War-era testing, concerned that debris could harm civilian and military satellite operations on which the West now relies heavily for everything from pinpoint navigation and Internet access to automated teller machines.

REUTERS PB RAI2138