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Foreign Ministry Holds Weekly News Conference --
Will Not Confirm ICBM Test

Tokyo KYODO
1 Jun 1995

Beijing, June 1 (KYODO) -- China's Foreign Ministry refused Thursday [1 June] to confirm whether its military recently test-fired a mobile-launched intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and denied that China poses a military threat to its neighbors.

"I'm not aware of the launching of an ICBM," ministry official Chen Jian said, adding China's military expenditures and forces are limited. The question was raised in response to a report by Japan's SANKEI SHIMBUN newspaper that China on May 29 test-fired a "Dongfeng 31" -- its first ICBM capable of traveling up to 8,000 kilometers, as far as the west coast of the United States or to Europe -- from a mobile launcher.

On Wednesday, a Japanese Government spokesman "tentatively confirmed" that the government had detected such a test but said it would not make representations to the Chinese government. Japan blasted a Chinese underground nuclear test last month and decided to cut its 1995 aid to China.

Chen, however, maintained China's right to develop its armed forces for the purpose of self-defense.

He also blasted a reported U.S.-Russia plan to jointly cooperate in a theater ballistic missile defense (TBMD) system, a system which theoretically would be able to destroy incoming nuclear warheads, saying such a system would not benefit the regional or global strategic balance. "We are of the view that the thus-proposed TBMD will trigger a new round of arm races and will do no good to the nuclear disarmament process. Therefore we are concerned with this and we hope the relevant parties will act with prudence," he said.