BEIJING: China on Thursday asked the US to provide information and data to the international community on the shooting down of a dying spy satellite and said it was closely following the "possible harm" caused by the American action to "outer space and relevant countries".

"China requests the US to fulfill its international obligations in real earnest and provide necessary information and data in a timely and prompt way so that the relevant countries can take precautions," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular bi-weekly news briefing here.

He said China was closely following "the possible harm caused by the US action to outer space and relevant countries".

The US said a missile launched from its navy ship in the North Pacific hit the errant satellite which was in its final orbit before entering the earth's atmosphere.

Washington had early this week justified its plan to shoot down the satellite, saying it was different from the one China did when it killed an ageing satellite using a ground-based missile last year. The plan was to protect the population on ground, it said.

China had killed an ageing satellite using a ground-based missile in January last year, which made the Communist giant the third nation to do so after the US and erstwhile Soviet Union. Beijing's action had sparked off an alarm about a global arms race in outer space.