Ministry of defense calls missile claim 'speculation'

Media reports on Thursday speculated that China was test-firing a Dongfeng-31 missile, which is said by experts to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads as far as 8,000 kilometers, far enough to reach the US.

However, missile models and military drill locations are military secrets that cannot be revealed and China's Ministry of National Defense will not comment on similar questions, the ministry told the Global Times on Thursday.

China has been embroiled in a series of territorial disputes with several neighboring countries in the South China Sea.

Tensions between China and Japan brought by territorial disputes over the Diaoyu Islands and China's establishment of the Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea, have been seriously intensified in the past year.

Such tensions might embroil Washington as the US has a security alliance with Japan, an AFP report said.

"It was merely the speculation of foreign media," the defense ministry said.

The speculation was based on a series of pictures published in a Wednesday report from the People's Liberation Army Daily about a recent drill by a missile artillery force, with one showing the launching moment of a missile.

The DF-31 missile is reportedly the advanced version of DF-5 intercontinental ballistic missile with improvements to several aspects including precision and penetration. With its advanced technology, the DF-31 missile is regarded as the mainstay of nuclear weapons in China.