Russia is helping China build a missile defence system, Putin says

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is helping China build a system to warn of ballistic missile launches. Since the cold war, only the United States and Russia have had such systems, which involve an array of ground-based radars and space satellites. The systems allow for early spotting of intercontinental ballistic missiles.Speaking at an international affairs conference in Moscow on Thursday, Putin said Russia had been helping Chinadevelop such a system. He added that “this is a very serious thing that will radically enhance China’s defence capability”.

His statement signalled a new degree of defence cooperation between the two former Communist rivals that have developed increasingly close political and military ties while Beijing and Washington have sunk into a trade war.

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