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US Defence Secretary says watching China's weapons development after hypersonic missile report
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WASHINGTON, 19 October 2021, (TON): US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said “Washington was closely watching China's development of advanced weapons systems, while declining to comment directly on a report that Beijing had tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile.”
The Chinese foreign ministry denied the report in the Financial Times newspaper, which said Beijing had launched a rocket in July carrying a hypersonic glide weapon. Beijing said it was a space vehicle, not a missile.
He United States and Russia have both tested hypersonic weapons, usually defined as missiles which fly more than five times the speed of sound, in a race for a new generation of weapons that are harder to detect and block.
Austin told reporters during a visit to the former Soviet republic of Georgia "we watch closely China's development of armament and advanced capabilities and systems that will only increase tensions in the region."
He said Washington would remain focused on the military challenge from Beijing.
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