China denies reports of testing nuclear-capable hypersonic missile

China has denied testing a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, asserting that what transpired earlier this year was merely a routine spacecraft check. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, on Monday, told a media briefing that they had carried out a routine test to verify different types of reusable spacecraft technology. “This was not a missile, this was a spacecraft,” he said. “This is of great significance for reducing the cost of spacecraft use.”

This came after a report indicated that a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile was tested in China. Lijan called the report by Financial Times inaccurate. 

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A hypersonic missile flew through low-orbit space before cruising down and narrowly missing its target, the report said.

“The test showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realised,” the report read.

Mike Gallagher, a Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that America might lose in the Cold War with China within a decade if Washington keeps at its current approach.  

Beijing has accused President Joe Biden’s administration of being hostile, following strains in US-China relations.

Michael Shoebridge, the director of defence, strategy and national security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that if the reports of testing were true it would be a “pattern of escalation in nuclear and other strike weapons”.

“I don’t think it’s more significant than China’s growing missile silos or air launch nuclear weapons or new submarine nuclear weapons,” he said. “But it fits a pattern of increasing capability [without] transparency.”

“Transparency is an alien concept for Beijing’s strategic thinkers,” he added.

China displayed what appeared to be a hypersonic missile platform at a recent military display.

Along with China, the US, Russia and at least five other countries have been working on hypersonic missile technology that can fly at a speed 5 times more than that of sound.