Buoyed by its recent success in testing a space weapon, China on Tuesday said it favoured the signing of a new international treaty to prevent arms race in space.

"To sign a relevant international legal document is the best channel to prevent the weaponisation of space and any arms race in space," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in response to questions concerning China's recent space test, which had triggered a global alarm.

China and Russia have submitted many working documents to Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and received support from many countries, she pointed out. China has always supported the peaceful use of space and opposed the weaponisation of space and any arms race in space, she stressed.

On January 23, China confirmed that it had shot down an ageing Chinese weather satellite by slamming into it with a ground-based ballistic missile about 860 km above earth. Asked about the debris caused by the Chinese space test, Jiang maintained that Beijing had made clear its position.

"We hold that space as the common heritage of all mankind and should be used for peaceful purposes. We are willing to enhance international cooperation in this regard," she said, adding, "We are opposed to the weaponisation of outer space and an arms race in outer space has not changed."

Asked whether China will attend the forthcoming session of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna, Jiang said representatives from China's Ministry of Science & Technology and Industry for National Defence and other concerned departments will send representatives to attend the meeting.

China has allayed global fears that the Chinese space test was targeted at any specific country.

"This test was not directed at any country and does not constitute a threat to any country," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman had said after maintaining a studied silence for days since the January 11 test, first reported by US intelligence agencies.

"China has never, and will never, participate in any form of a space arms race," the spokesman had said. China is already a major space power, capable of launching manned space missions. China launched its first manned space mission in October 2003, joining the United States and Russia as the only nations to have performed such a complicated task.

The Communist giant has announced plans to allow a Chinese astronaut to perform a spacewalk as early as next year and hopes to send an unmanned probe to the Moon by 2010.