China launches Anti-Satellite missile

China has not yet confirmed the test, but the reports of the Jan. 11 incident are now widely accepted as accurate that Beijing used a ground-based medium-range ballistic missile to destroy an aging Chinese weather satellite that was orbiting Earth at an altitude of 865 kilometres, according to U.S. intelligence reports.

The satellite was only about a metre in length, so its destruction by a ballistic missile was a highly impressive show of precision targeting.Other countries are watching with concern. The satellite-killing missile test has fuelled anxieties about a Chinese military buildup that has already shocked the experts with some remarkable breakthroughs. It could trigger a new arms race in space. And it has exposed a key vulnerability in the U.S. military doctrine, with its mounting dependence on satellite communications and satellite spying.
Bush administration officials have said that they have not been unable to get even the most basic diplomatic response from China after their detection of a successful test to destroy a satellite 10 days ago.
They were also uncertain whether China's top leaders, including President Hu Jintao, were fully aware of the test or the reaction it would engender, the New York Times quoted the officials as saying.

Last summer, the U.S. administration declared space vital to national security. The statement was a strong signal that Washington has no intention of accepting Chinese and Russian proposals for the demilitarization of space.
Shortly afterward, China used a ground-based laser to "paint" a U.S. satellite, showing its space technology to be more powerful than expected. China also surprised many analysts by unveiling the Jian-10 fighter-bomber jet, said to be superior to its Russian counterparts and putting China at the leading edge of military aviation.

China's latest defence "white paper," released by the Central Military Commission at the end of last month, contains some ambitious goals for military modernization. With a focus on high-tech "information warfare," the paper proclaims that China must be "capable of winning digitalized warfare" by the middle of this century.