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US, PRC missiles blew up satellites:
WikiLeaks
AFP, LONDON
The US and China both used advanced missiles to blow up their own satellites in
a mutual show of military strength, documents published in yesterday¡¦s Telegraph
newspaper showed.
The memos, leaked by the WikiLeaks Web site, revealed that the US responded to
China¡¦s 2007 destruction of a weather satellite by blowing up its own
malfunctioning satellite in a ¡§test¡¨ strike.
The US insisted at the time that it undertook the operation to prevent the
satellite returning to Earth with a toxic fuel tank, which it said would pose a
health hazard. A leaked cable sent from the US embassy in Beijing in February
2008, the day after the US strike, revealed that China was doubtful of this
explanation.
¡§Teng Jianqun, Deputy Secretary General of the China Arms Control and
Disarmament Department, described the shoot-down as unnecessary and simply an
opportunity to test the US missile defense system,¡¨ the memo said.
According to the cable, Teng said the shoot-down was ¡§an ideal opportunity to
voice their (the US) objection¡¨ and proved ¡§the US missile defense system is
also an offensive system.¡¨
Another leaked cable revealed that the US embassy in Beijing received ¡§direct
confirmation of the results of the anti-satellite test¡¨ from the US military
command in the Pacific.
The White House was shocked in February 2007 when China demonstrated its
capability to strike in space by blowing up a weather satellite 853km above
Earth.
In another leaked cable sent in January 2008, it was communicated that officials
working for the then-US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had warned Beijing.
¡§A Chinese attack on a satellite using a weapon launched by a ballistic missile
threatens to destroy space systems that the US and other nations use for
commerce and national security,¡¨ the officials said.
¡§Destroying satellites endangers people. Any purposeful interference with US
space systems will be interpreted by the US as an infringement of its rights and
considered an escalation in a crisis or conflict,¡¨ they said.
A month later, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates authorized the USS Lake Erie
cruiser to fire a SM-3 rocket at the USA 193 spy satellite, the US¡¦ first such
strike in 23 years.
The strike raised tensions, with ¡§angry¡¨ China claiming at a defense summit in
2008 that Beijing and Washington were ¡§neither allies nor adversaries,¡¨ the
cables said.
Another memo claimed that China was worried over US plans to place defense
radars in Japan and alleged the US was developing an ¡§airborne laser system¡¨
that could ¡§attack a missile in launch phase over the sovereign territory.¡¨
The latest memo, dated January last year, showed that China had used a SC-19
missile to destroy a CSS-X-11 missile 241km above Earth, an action the US
considered as an anti-satellite test. The cable showed that US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton said ¡§objections ... previously delivered in January 2007
and January 2008 are still valid.¡¨
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