BEIJING, Jan 19: Beijing insisted on Friday that it was opposed to an arms race in space after Japan and Britain joined a chorus of concern over a satellite-killing missile test by China -- the first known experiment of its type in more than 20 years.

The United States says China used a ground-based ballistic missile to shoot apart an ageing weather satellite on Jan 11, scattering dangerous debris that could damage other satellites and raising risks of escalating military rivalry in outer space.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman refused to confirm or deny the incident, but said Beijing wanted no arms race in space.

“I can’t say anything about the reports. I really don’t know; I’ve only seen the foreign reports,” Liu Jianchao told Reuters.

“What I can say is that, as a matter of principle, China advocates the peaceful use of space and opposes the weaponisation of space, and also opposes any form of arms race,” he said.

US concerns were quickly echoed by Australia and Canada, and then on Friday by Japan. “We are concerned about it firstly from the point of view of peaceful use of space and secondly from the safety perspective,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference.

Britain added its voice to the alarm with Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman telling reporters: “We have concerns about the impact of debris in space and we’ve expressed that concern.”

The last US anti-satellite test took place in 1985.

Mr Blair’s spokesman said Britain did not believe that China’s test had contravened international law, but it was concerned by the lack of consultation. The test was “inconsistent with the spirit of China’s statement to the United Nations and other bodies on the military use of space,” he added.

Tokyo had asked the Chinese government for confirmation that the satellite-killing missile test took place and for an explanation of what China's intentions were, Shiozaki said.

“When we passed on the message, the Chinese side said they would take Japan’s concerns into account and that they want to maintain the peaceful use of space,” a Japanese foreign ministry official said.

According to David Wright of the Cambridge-based Union of Concerned Scientists, the satellite pulverised by China could have broken into nearly 40,000 fragments of 1cm to 10cm, roughly half of which would stay in orbit for more than a decade.

The US has been researching satellite-killers of its own.—Reuters