China tests hypersonic missile and announces US military exercise in Taiwan

Tensions are rising between the weekends United States e China. A day for the British newspaper Financial times Revealing that Beijing had conducted tests with a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, Washington announced last week that it was arranging a military exercise with Canada in the Taiwan Strait.

The test took place in August, but was kept secret by the Chinese government and surprised the United States Financial times. The hypersonic missile was nuclear-armed and launched by a Long March type rocket. The missile orbited the Earth in low orbit before landing towards its target, but lost about 38 kilometers of its target. Hypersonic missiles are capable of flying at five times the speed of sound or at 6,200 kilometers per hour.

China has denied reports in a British newspaper. The Beijing command said the test cited was not a routine test of spacecraft technologies and a missile. “This is not a missile, it is a spacecraft,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday. “This type of test is very important to reduce the cost of using the spacecraft.”

But before the Chinese government could explain, Washington confirmed that two warships – an American destroyer and a Canadian warship – had conducted exercises on Thursday and Friday last week between the Taiwan Strait, the island and mainland China. .

The Beijing government condemned the exercise, saying “the United States and Canada are working together to create problems and severely affect the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.” However, the Chinese government itself is carrying out military maneuvers to threaten the island’s government. In October alone, about 150 Chinese planes flew over Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.

China does not recognize Taiwan’s independence and considers it a “rebel province”. Despite the local democratic government, Beijing wants to reunite Taiwan, a position the United States cannot accept. Western exercises aimed at strengthening determination to defend the island in the event of Chinese occupation