China Warns Space Arms Race Is ‘Gravest Threat’ in New Paper
“The achievements of outer space exploration should benefit all countries,” the paper said. It cautioned that the current international legal framework for space has fallen behind fast-moving advances in space science and technology and their broad real-world uses.
The document described the danger in stark terms. “The risk of an arms race in outer space and the trend of turning outer space into a new theater of conflict have become the gravest threat and challenge to space security,” it said. “Strengthening global space governance is an urgent issue for humanity and the shared responsibility of all States.”
China urged nations to take humanity’s common values as their guide, uphold sovereign equality, abide by international law, practice multilateralism, and adopt a people-centered, action-oriented approach, according to the paper. It also pressed for a balance between space development and security, along with stability and sustainability, to build what it called a community with a shared future in space.
The paper arrives weeks after Troy Meink, secretary of the US Air Force, told a defense conference last month that the US Space Force has “on-orbit space control weapons” capable of defending American forces against hostile action.
Among its other proposals, the paper asked countries to commit to openness and shared benefit, guarantee equitable access to space, promote research and technological innovation, respect every state’s rights and security interests, reject offensive military policies, and halt an arms race. It further called for adherence to the international rule of law, collective security, greater transparency to reduce misunderstandings, regulation of commercial space activity, deeper international cooperation, and a continued central role for the United Nations in global space governance.
The document also demanded equal, non-discriminatory access to space and opposed activities that threaten other states’ sovereignty, security and development. It said the principle of refraining from the threat or use of force in international relations, including against objects in space, should be reaffirmed to head off armed conflict beyond Earth.
In a separate development Friday, China launched a remote sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province, in the country’s north, a state-run news agency reported. The satellite will mainly support land surveys, crop yield estimates, and disaster prevention and relief.
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