China tests ballistic missiles

Officials in Washington say China conducted a test flight of an intercontinental ballistic missile last month while the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry H Shelton, was on an official visit to Beijing.

Defence department spokesman Kenneth Bacon said China tested a DF-31 missile over its territory on November the fourth as part of a series.

He said the Clinton administration was not alarmed by China's effort to modernize its long-range ballistic missile force but it would watch any country that was developing its military.

The Washington Times, which was first to report the test, said another was planned in the next few weeks.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service