BEIJING, Jan. 23 — The Chinese government publicly confirmed Tuesday that it had conducted a successful test of a new antisatellite weapon but said it had no intention of participating in a “space race.”
The confirmation was made at a regular Foreign Ministry news briefing, 12 days after China used a medium-range ballistic missile to destroy one of its own weather satellites 535 miles above Earth. Several countries, including the United States, Japan, Britain and Australia, pressed Beijing to explain the test, apparently the first successful destruction of a satellite in orbit in more than 20 years.
Until now, Chinese officials declined to confirm or deny that it had occurred, despite news reports last week that quoted Bush administration officials describing the exercise in detail. Liu Jianchao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, issued the first official comment.
“This test was not directed at any country and does not constitute a threat to any country,” he said. “What needs to be stressed is that China has always advocated the peaceful use of space, opposes the weaponization of space and an arms race in space. China has never participated and will never participate in any arms race in outer space.”
Mr. Liu did not say why the Chinese Army had conducted the test. He also did not directly address concerns that the use of a missile to shatter a satellite in a low orbit might be perceived as inconsistent with China’s repeated calls to ban the use of weapons in space.
Beijing’s prolonged silence about the test, which American intelligence officials said took place on Jan. 11, raised speculation about its intentions and the circumstances surrounding the test.
Senior Bush administration officials raised the possibility that the silence might have reflected the autonomy and isolation of the Chinese military. They said they could not be sure that President Hu Jintao, who oversees the military as well as the Communist Party, had personally authorized or overseen the test.
On Tuesday, Mr. Liu denied that officials had taken too much time before speaking publicly. “China has nothing to hide,” he said. “After various parties expressed concerns, we explained this test in outer space to them.”
Japanese and American officials said China had not volunteered any information until they had made formal diplomatic inquiries, and then it had taken at least four days to get a reply. The first confirmation apparently came when Christopher R. Hill, an assistant secretary of state, visited his counterparts in Beijing over the weekend to discuss efforts to revive six-nation negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said Monday that Mr. Hill had been assured that the test “was not meant as a threat against anybody” and that Chinese officials had acknowledged that it had taken place.
Independent experts on the Chinese military say China has sought a workable antisatellite weapon since the 1980s. One reason is that the United States military depends heavily on satellites for missile guidance, navigation and communications, and any widespread damage to that network could hamper military action overseas.
China has long feared that the United States might intervene in any military conflict with Taiwan, and has invested heavily in new arms that experts say are intended to give it the power to attack Taiwan while keeping American forces at bay.
But others say China’s intentions in conducting this test may have been more diplomatic in nature, intended to put pressure on the United States to negotiate a treaty to ban weapons in space. Russia and China have pressed for an international treaty that would limit the use of space for military purposes. The Bush administration has declined to take part in such talks.
Over the summer, President Bush authorized a new space policy that seeks to preserve “freedom of action” in space, and he said the United States reserved the right to use force against countries seeking to disrupt American satellites.
Xu Guangyu, a former Chinese Army officer and an official at the government-run China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the antisatellite test amounted to an attempt to redefine the “rules of the game” and press the United States into negotiations.
“What China is saying is, ‘Let’s sit down and talk,’ ” Mr. Xu said. “There is a trend toward weaponization of space that no one, especially China, wants to see.”
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