China confirms it held an anti-satellite test

Beijing, Jan 23: China today said that it held an anti-satellite test, confirming earlier claims from Washington.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao confirmed at a news conference that the country had conducted the test.

China had repeatedly refused to publicly say whether it knocked one its own aging satellites out of the skies with a missile, in what Washington officials last week criticised as a provocative escalation of military competition in outer space.

Yesterday, a US State Department spokesman said in Washington that Chinese officials had acknowledged the test when they met US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in Beijing over the weekend.

Reuters

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