A missile from China

Press, 13 June 1977, Page 16

A missile from China

The prediction that the Chinese may soon test a missile to land north of Fiji (contained in an article published on our front page last week) is a reminder of the close link between a space programme and a weapons system. The rockets which the Chinese have used to put five satellites into orbit demand a knowledge of technology which can be simply transferred to missiles for weaponry — the Chinese are doing what others have done before them. Any admiration or rejoicing at the exploration of space has to be restrained by the darker side of the development as well. The missile which is expected to leave the interior of China and travel to the north of Fiji will be harmless in itself — unless anything is lying in its way — but if the test is successful China will be able to add a long-range missile to the arsenal of shorter-range missiles it already has. It will be loaded with explosive — probably nuclear — and pointed at a target in the Soviet Union. As is the way with nuclear weapons, no-one knows what fury it

would unleash if it were fired. The deadly game of the nuclear balance will have had some more weight thrown in on one side. Worse things than the flight of a piece of metal have been tested in the Pacific, but it is nevertheless worth knowing what is going on. The Chinese have been seen before to be preparing for a missile test and the fact that the Defence Ministry says that Royal New Zealand Air Force planes observed preparations last year — though it will not say whether similar activity has been observed since — helps to indicate how the jigsaw of knowledge about national weapons arsenals is built up. Presumably, when the Chinese do test their missile, there will be more than Chinese Naval ships to observe it. Many of these gatherers of intelligence will be interested in the technical aspects of the missile. The rest of the world, which will not observe the test directly, must view its occurrence with trepidation.