China denies testing a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, says it was a spacecraft

Responding to the FT’s report, Mike Gallagher, a Republican member of the US House Armed Services Committee, said the alleged hypersonic missile test should “serve as a call to action.”Gallagher said America could “lose the new Cold War with Communist China within the decade” if the Biden administration sticks to its “current complacent course.” The US is engaged in a race with China and Russia to develop hypersonic weapons at a time of increased global tensions. Hypersonic missiles are designed to travel at a such a high speed that they can fly great distances and move quickly through heavily defended airspace to attack targets such as harbors, airfields and other installations before they can be successfully shot down.Russia and China are both developing hypersonic weapons programs and Russia claims to have successfully tested a missile. The US is focusing on conventional hypersonic weapons that are based on ships, land and air platforms. China first tested a hypersonic missile in 2014 and Russia in 2016.China’s hypersonic glide vehicle, known as DF-ZF, has been tested at least nine times since 2014, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).Shawn Deng, Barbara Starr and Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.