Chinese officials have denied reports that the Chinese military tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile earlier this year.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian rejected the reports on Monday, saying that the test, which occurred in August, was “a spacecraft, not a missile,” according to CNN.
“This test was a routine spacecraft experiment to verify the reusable technology of spacecraft, which is of great significance for reducing the cost of spacecraft use,” the spokesperson said. “It can provide a convenient and cheap way for humans to use space peacefully. Many companies in the world have carried out similar experiments.”
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Over the weekend, the Financial Times reported that China had “tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile” that “circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capabilities that caught U.S. intelligence by surprise,” citing unnamed sources “briefed on the intelligence.”
He also noted that “what separated from the spacecraft before returning was the supporting equipment of the spacecraft, which was burned and disintegrated in the process of falling into the atmosphere and landed on the high seas.”
Prior to the Chinese denial, Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, a member of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that this should “serve as a call to action.”
“If we stick to our current complacent course — or place our hopes in bankrupt buzzwords like ‘integrated deterrence’ — we will lose the New Cold War with Communist China within the decade,” he explained. “The People’s Liberation Army now has an increasingly credible capability to undermine our missile defenses and threaten the American homeland with both conventional and nuclear strikes. Even more disturbing is the fact that American technology has contributed to the PLA’s hypersonic missile program.”
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The United States, China, and Russia are all trying to create, test, and perfect hypersonic weapons that travel at five times the speed of sound. These missiles would still travel slower than a ballistic missile, but they have the maneuverability that ballistic missiles lack, which helps them dodge and become harder for enemies to track.
U.S. military leaders have warned about China’s nuclear capabilities, as tension regarding Taiwan continues to escalate.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, in response to the reported missile test, that the U.S. sees China as the No. 1 “pacing challenge.”
“We have made clear our concerns about the military capabilities China continues to pursue, capabilities that only increase tensions in the region and beyond,” Kirby said.
