Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

Following the recent test of an anti-satellite weapon, the PLA Deputy Chief of General Staff has delivered a message to the world via the China Daily: China is not involved in an arms race and is not a threat to anyone.

The Chinese anti-satellite weapon test is a challenge, but the US would be better off not overreacting

China set two more ambitious goals for its space program this week, announcing it will launch an unmanned lunar orbiter in the second half of 2007 and a probe to Mars by 2009, according to reports from the Xinhua news agency.

The lunar orbiter, scheduled to launch later this year, will take 3-D images of the moon's surface. If successful, it will pave the way for a lunar landing mission, Xinhua quoted National Space Administration director Sun Laiyan as saying Sunday in a speech at Beijing Jiaotong University.

BEIJING (AFP) - Asia's space race heated up on Wednesday as China launched its first lunar orbiter, an event hailed by the world's most populous nation as a milestone event in its global rise.

China's year-long expedition, costing 1.4 billion yuan (184 million dollars), kicks off a programme that aims to land an unmanned rover on the moon's surface by 2012 and put a man on the moon by about 2020.

US Marine Corps General James Cartwright says the Chinese made two unsuccessful attempts at an anti-satellite intercept before the successful test in January.

The Xinhua website says this article by the Los Angeles Times sensationalises the anti-satellite test that China carried out in January 2007. I am not sure why - the article is quite moderate in tone and even reminds people that Taiwan is a rogue province.

When China blew their aging satellite out of the sky last year, the US bellowed about their displeasure. Now, barely a year later, the US has done the same thing - Lost Laowai's Steven tackles the hypocrisy of it all.

The US National Security Council has confirmed that China recently destroyed one of its own weather satellites with a ballistic missile. This is worrying news for the US because it cannot defend a missile attack on an individual satellite.

After all the ballyhoo and hype of the Olympics comes the only race of any real significance this year: it’s time for Americans to choose the next guy they want to entrust with the launch codes.