Over the weekend, a report appeared in the Financial Times – via a leak from an anonymous US official – which claimed that in August, China had tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile which had orbited the entire world.
The article described US intelligence as saying the test showed China had made “astounding” progress. A hypersonic missile differs from a ballistic missile in its ability to fly at lower orbit at a pace faster than the speed of sound, which current missile defence systems are not capable of accounting for. However, China itself had never announced this test, and nor did it comment on the reports.
The development comes following a number of hubristic articles claiming that Washington had the upper hand against China militarily thanks to the AUKUS deal with Australia and the UK.
For example, Minxin Pei had written on Bloomberg, AUKUS shows “China can’t win an arms race with the US.” On Foreign Affairs, Michael Beckley and Hal Brands had proclaimed “The End of China’s Rise.” Yet this development paints a different picture – one where Beijing's military capabilities are continuing to grow at a pace beyond their expectations. One former Pentagon official Nicolas Chaillan has expressed his belief that China has already “won” the artificial intelligence race.
Not anymore, apparently. Such a missile would give Beijing the capability to strike practically anywhere in the world in a matter of hours – with a nuclear warhead, too, if it so desired.
While a nuclear war remains a non-starter for obvious reasons, this technological development nonetheless tips the balance of power in China’s favour for the time being.
For example, in a maritime conflict in the South China Sea or related to Taiwan, non-nuclear hypersonic missiles could be used readily to sink allied fleets and US aircraft carriers attacking China’s periphery. At such close proximity, they would be sitting ducks. While the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines have been heralded as a ‘game changer,’ they won’t be delivered until 2040.
If the story about the hypersonic missile is true, it undoubtedly changes the military dynamic with China, and undermines the strategic assumption of the US and its allies that any conflict would be contained within China’s periphery in the Pacific and be solely a maritime exercise.
RT
The news of a hypersonic missile test was unveiled by the Financial Times in a bombshell report, citing five unnamed sources. The Chinese military allegedly conducted the launch back in August, in which a glide vehicle was deployed into low-earth orbit, where it circled the entire globe towards its target. And while the report emphasized that the missile purportedly missed its target by nearly two dozen miles, it nevertheless came as a big ‘surprise’ to the US intelligence community.
“We have no idea how they did this,” one source was cited as saying, while two others noted the test demonstrated that China had made “astounding progress” and was “far more advanced” in hypersonic weapons research than US officials thought.
The FT scoop triggered an avalanche of follow-up media reports, all citing the same unnamed officials, as well as speculation by military experts and pundits. However, not a single acting US military or intelligence official went on record to corroborate the claims.
Chinese officials also kept silent on the issue. However, the Chinese state-backed outlet Global Times, often seen in the West as an unofficial ‘mouthpiece’ of Beijing, ran an editorial on Sunday, neither confirming nor denying the claims, but acknowledging that the US “generally has the ability to monitor global missile launches.”
“If the FT report is to be believed, it means that there is a key new member in China's nuclear deterrence system, which is a new blow to the US' mentality of strategic superiority over China,” it said. The paper went on to emphasize that “greater survivability and penetration ability of Chinese nuclear missiles is clearly being accelerated through a variety of new missiles.”
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