China tested emerging military technology aimed at destroying missiles
in mid-air after an initial test in 2010, state media said on Sunday, in
a move that will unnerve its neighbours.
A brief report by the official Xinhua news agency said the military
carried out a "land-based mid-course missile interception test within
its territory".
"The test has reached the pre-set goal," the report quoted an unnamed
Defence Ministry official as saying. "The test is defensive in nature
and targets no other country."
It did not specify whether any missile or object had been destroyed in the test, reports Reuters.
"Although no other detailed information about the test was released
from the military authorities, weapon system experts said such a test
could build shield for China's air defences by intercepting incoming
warheads such as ballistic missiles in space," the report added.
People's Liberation Army officials and documents in recent years have
said developing anti-missile technology is one focus of defence
spending, which has grown by double-digits over many years.
The latest flexing of China's maturing military hardware comes as
Beijing is involved in increasingly bitter territorial disputes in the
East China Sea with Japan and in the South China Sea with several
Southeast Asian nations.
Beijing says its military spending is for defensive purposes and the modernization of outdated forces.
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