China sees dangers in hypersonic arms deal

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON－China's United Nations Ambassador Zhang Jun warned on Tuesday against measures that could fuel a crisis like the Ukraine conflict in other parts of the world when asked about a deal involving Britain, the United States and Australia to cooperate on hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare capabilities.

"Anyone who do (es) not want to see the Ukrainian crisis should refrain from doing things which may lead the other parts of the world into a crisis like this," Zhang told reporters. "As the Chinese saying goes: If you do not like it, do not impose it against the others."

The US, Britain and Australia announced on Tuesday that they will cooperate on developing hypersonic missiles.

In a joint statement issued after conducting a review of the trilateral defense cooperation, US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said they "committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics and electronic warfare capabilities".

On the same day, the US revealed a recent test of a hypersonic weapon. The test that took place in mid-March was kept quiet for two weeks to "avoid escalating tensions with Russia", reported CNN citing a US defense official familiar with the matter.

In the defense budget for the fiscal year 2023, the White House asked for $7.2 billion for developing and fielding long-range fires, including hypersonic missiles.

The leaders of the three nations formed a security alliance known as AUKUS in September.

When the three nations announced the formation of AUKUS, under which the US and Britain promised to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, France considered it "a stab in the back" because Canberra abruptly abandoned a conventionally powered submarine deal with Paris without prior notice.

In addition, AUKUS has created fears about an arms race among great powers that will destabilize the Southeast Asian region.

Shortly after the establishment of the alliance, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said it was "deeply concerned about the continuing arms race and power projection in the region".

Around the same time, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the nuclear-powered submarine project could "provoke other powers to take more aggressive action in this region".

Xinhua - Agencies