Kinesisk hypersonisk våpen - Kina benekter - The Economist

 

What China’s New Missile Test Means

Beijing has played its latest test off as a space mission, but a more dangerous competition is being launched.

By Colm Quinn, the newsletter writer at Foreign Policy.

A Long March rocket, reportedly used in an August missile test, carries the Shenzhou 12 spacecraft and a crew of three astronauts to orbit on June 17. GREG BAKER/AFP

OCTOBER 19, 2021, 5:44 AM

Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: China denies hypersonic orbital missile test, Zalmay Khalilzad resigns as U.S. Afghan envoy, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Ecuador.

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China Denies Testing New Missile

China has rejected a report from the Financial Times that described the test launch of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that entered orbit before reaching its final destination.

The missile technology, more accurately known as a fractional orbital bombardment system, marks the latest advance in China’s weaponry as Russia and the United States both pursue faster and stealthier weapons systems.

In denying the launch on Monday, China’s foreign ministry said a “space vehicle,” not a missile, was tested. That explanation may only amount to semantics as the August launch reportedly involved the deployment of what’s known as a glide vehicle, which cruises down from space after launch to hit its target.

The development has already led to a response from China hawks in Congress, with Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher calling for U.S. divestment from China in the areas where military and civil technology overlap to slow China’s progress.

So why are China and Russia pursuing this technology? To make sure the logic of nuclear deterrence holds, East Asia Nonproliferation Program director Jeffrey Lewis summed up in Foreign Policy on Monday: “If the Americans hit us with everything they have, how many of our nuclear weapons will survive to retaliate? How many of those will get through U.S. missile defenses? … That’s it.”

Lewis continues: “If the answer for the foreseeable future is enough, then great. But if it’s not, then Moscow and Beijing have to do something about that.”