The White House reacted with alarm and anger last night after China successfully destroyed a satellite with a ballistic missile, the first space test of such offensive military technology by any nation in more than 20 years.

Using a ground-based medium-range ballistic missile, the test knocked out an ageing Chinese weather satellite 537 miles above the Earth on January 11 through “kinetic impact”, or by slamming into it, Gordon Johndroe, President Bush’s national security spokesman, said.

The test comes amid increasing fears within the Bush Administration over potentially hostile nations and terrorist groups acquiring technology to destroy crucial US space systems on which the country — and particularly its military — heavily depends. It will inevitably stoke fears in Washington of a potentially dangerous new arms race in space.

The last US anti-satellite test took place in 1985. But Washington halted such Cold War-era testing, concerned by debris that could harm civilian and military satellite operations on which the West increasingly relies for everything from guiding warplanes to internet access.

“The US believes China’s development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area,” Mr Johndroe said. “We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese.”

Chinese military experts say that the country’s military capabilities lag about 20 years behind developed nations. Official Chinese figures show that defence spending has been rising by more than 10 per cent a year since 1990.

Aviation Week & Space Technology, the first to report the test, cited sources saying that a Chinese Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite, launched in 1999, was destroyed by an anti-satellite system launched from or near China’s Xichang Space Centre in Sichuan province.

David Wright, of the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said that the satellite pulverised by China could have broken into 40,000 fragments from 1cm to 10cm, or up to 4in, roughly half of which would stay in orbit for more than a decade. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said last night: “The UK raised this issue with the Chinese authorities on Wednesday. Our concern is the possible effects of debris in outer space caused by the break-up of the satellite.”

Washington’s concerns over the threat to its satellites as China embarks on its “Star Wars” programme triggered an aggressive revision of its national space policy in October that asserted America’s right to deny access to space to anyone hostile to its interests. In a speech about the policy last month, Robert Joseph, the State Department’s chief arms control and international security official, said that other nations and possibly terrorist groups were “acquiring capabilities to counter, attack and defeat US space systems”.

He added: “No nation, no non-state actor, should be under the illusion that the United States will tolerate a denial of our right to the use of space for peaceful purposes.”

China insists that its military policy is purely defensive, but its repetitions appear intended to allay fears among its neighbours that it is developing an increasingly formidable array of weaponry.

Less than two weeks ago, military manufacturers unveiled China’s home-made fighter jet, the Jian-10. China has just released its first defence White Paper in two years that sets out ambitious goals for the People’s Liberation Army. The paper focused heavily on the need for technological modernisation.

The US has been researching “satellite-killing” technology of its own, experimenting with lasers on the ground that could disable and destroy spacecraft.

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