Beijing has confirmed a successful test for a new technology designed to shoot down missiles in mid-air. This is a move that military experts claim to be a breakthrough for China's armed forces.

The test was carried out on a ground-based mid course missile interception technology within China's territory and experts claim that the test accomplished China's anticipated objective. "The test was defensive in nature and is not targeted at any country" claimed China's news agency, Xinhua.

The technology test follows the announcement by China in 2007 that it had successfully shot-down a satellite in a move which was seen as a deliberate public demonstration of China's military know-hows.

"It's the new Chinese way to signal that they are now able to do these things," said Hans Kristensen, an expert on the Chinese military with the Federation of American Scientists, of Monday's test.

"There is an obvious concern in Beijing that they need an effective anti-ballistic missile defense in some form," and staging a successful test "shows that their technology is maturing," Hans Kristensen added.

"Compared with a previous test of anti-satellite technologies, the missile interception system is more advanced as the targets are moving objects and the satellite was flying within a preplanned orbit," Mr. Yang said

"The move by China was meant to usher China into a new phase of missile interception technology" statement made by Yang Chengjun, a senior Chinese military strategist for missile studies to China's state-run Global Times newspaper.

China's military expenditure has increased by 15 percent in a move to modernize its massive but obsolete military. The pentagon acknowledged that the test had taken place but say they were not informed of the test and declined to link itself with a $3bn deal for 330 Patriot anti-missile systems to neighboring Taiwan. However, Pentagon said that it was seeking more info about the test from China.

China's state news agency Xinhua said this came after one week after tensions over the decision by Washington to sell PAC-3 Patriot missiles to Taiwan, a move that was very much condemned by China. The sale of the military aircraft has angered Beijing with one military general calling for immediate counter-measures against Washington including withdrawal of military contacts between the two sides.

"We detected two geographically separated missile launch events with an exo-atmospheric collision also being observed by space-based sensors," said Major Maureen Schumann, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

"We are requesting information from China regarding the purpose for conducting this interception as well as China's intentions and plans to pursue future types of intercepts."

The incident comes after reinforced claims by US and Canada of increased cyber-attacks. Claims showing that China's government hackers are the ones responsible for the attacks according to Washington, but Beijing has denied them terming them as mere unsubstantiated assertions. With reports from the Blog of Asia

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