Chinese Communist Regime Admits Use of Anti-Satellite Missile

A man looks at a Chinese-made P12 Missile Weapon System at a China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images)

A spokesperson from China’s Foreign Ministry has admitted to use of a missile to destroy an aging wheather satellite on January 11.

The Chinese communist regime had avoided the topic for days after the incident, and had refused to issue any statements on the topic.

According to a report by Aviation Week and Space Technology , on January 12, 2007 at 6:30 am Beijing time, the Chinese communist regime launched a middle-range anti-satellite missile in Sichuan Province. The missile released a warhead into space, destroying an orbiting weather satellite that belongs to China, “Wind and Cloud 1C” (FY-1C), which was sent to space in 1999.

The United States, Japan, and Australia all condemned this satellite attack. The debris from the crash is floating in the surrounding of 400 to 3,000 kilometers of space, where there are about 120 orbiting satellites. Now those satellites are at risk of colliding with the debris.

Some analysts think this attack posts a challenge to space safety. Alexander Downer, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, said Australia is reluctant to see “an arms race into outer space.”

Political commentator Lin Baohua thinks the way the Chinese communist regime handled the event—first denying this attack, later revealing and admitting to it—is a reflection of the power struggle erupted within the Chinese Communist Party’s high-level ranks, especially within the military.