Report hints at satellite sabotage

A PRO-BEIJING newspaper claims the American manufacturer of the Apstar 2 satellite, Hughes Aircraft Co, is responsible for last month's explosion which destroyed the satellite and China's Long March 2E rocket, hinting at possible sabotage.

In a front-page story yesterday, the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao said results of preliminary investigations in China suggest the explosion was caused by the satellite.

The report claimed that based on television footage and data from a recovered black box, '[one] cannot rule out the possibility that the incident was done deliberately'.

Quoting unnamed industry sources, the daily said that due to 'political and economic considerations' the possibility of a campaign 'to challenge and destroy China's ability and reputation' in rocket launching could not be ruled out.

The paper compared the incident with a launch failure three years ago when an Australian satellite, the Optus B2, broke up along with its carrier rocket - a Long March 3 rocket. The Optus B2, the report stressed, was also manufactured by Hughes Aircraft.

The Ta Kung Pao said the Chinese side did not make public full details of the 1992 investigation after a request by the Americans to keep it quiet.

'The Chinese side took a conciliatory attitude and took into account future co-operation with the Americans [and therefore] did not make an issue out of the incident,' the paper said.