China said on Monday it had tested a spacecraft and not a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile as reported by the Financial Times, which claimed that the testing of an advanced projectile had caught the US intelligence community by surprise.
The London-based FT, quoting five people familiar with the matter, reported on Saturday that China had tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that flew through space, circled the globe before cruising down towards its target, which it missed by two dozen miles.
Asked to share details about the reported testing, the Chinese foreign ministry on Monday denied it. “It was not a missile, it was a space vehicle,” spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters. “It’s understood that this was a routine test of a space vehicle to verify the technology of [the] spacecraft’s reusability.”
He said the test was done to study if it’s possible to cut the cost of spacecraft use, providing an inexpensive way to use space for peaceful purposes.