China tests missile interception technology

BEIJING - China has successfully tested a missile interception technology, a week after the US agreed to sell an anti-missile system to Taiwan.

The test was carried out Monday, Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday.

China conducted the test on “ground-based midcourse missile interception technology within its territory”, the report said, adding: “The test has achieved the expected objective.”

It stated that the test is defensive in nature and is not targeted at any country.

DPA adds: “The US arms sales to Taiwan infringe upon China’s security interests as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and interfere with China’s internal affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu had said in a statement Saturday.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stepped up its modernisation in the 1990s after studying US use of high-technology weapons and systems in the first invasion of Iraq.

China jumped to second place in the list of the world’s biggest military spenders in 2008, behind only the United States, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported last year.

Its estimated military spending reached $85 billion, one-seventh of the estimated US spending, the institute said.

During a parade to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on Oct 1, the PLA showcased more than a dozen missile systems.

Among those identified were Dongfeng 21C medium-range ballistic missiles, Dongfeng 15B and Dongfeng 11A short-range missiles, Hongqi coastal defence and ship-to-air missiles, and Hongqi 12 surface-to-air missiles.