Why did China release rare videos of its successful anti-missile system tests?
Rare disclosure of successful anti-missile system tests follows announcement US will deploy its THAAD system in South Korea
Strategic and political goals are likely to be behind China’s unusual disclosure this week of advances in one of its antiballistic missile systems, analysts say.
On Sunday and Monday, China National Radio, CCTV and the PLA Daily’s TV.81.cn website carried reports touting four consecutive successful tests of a “ground-based midcourse defence” (GMD) system at the Korla Missile Test Complex in Xinjiang.
GMD systems plot, target and destroy ballistic missiles in space.
A clip of the first two of the tests was aired for the first time on the TV.81.cn website.
CCTV said the four tests indicated that China’s system was ready for basic deployment in war, making China the second country after the United States to have the technology.