Author: Stephen Johnson / Source: Big Think
- A Chinese foreign minister refuted U.S. claims that China and Russia are developing space weaponry.
- China and Russia have recently ramped up cooperation on space programs.
- Meanwhile, the U.S. has been skeptical of both nations, arguing that they’re likely developing an array of space weapons.
Amid ongoing disarmament talks in Geneva, a Chinese foreign minister on Wednesday refuted U.S. accusations that China and Russia are advancing a space arms race by developing anti-satellite weapons and laser weapons.
“The Chinese side did not, and will not take part in an arms race in outer space of any form. Our stance remains unchanged,” Chinese Foreign Minister Spokesperson Geng Shuang told reporters.
“Here I want to remind all of you of a fact that the U.S. publicly defines outer space as a new battlefield. It has built an Outer Space Command and is building an outer space troop, and it plans to deploy laser weapons in outer space. Who is worsening the threat of weaponization and turning it into a battlefield? Who is threatening the security of outer space? I believe the answers are self-evident.”
Geng said the U.S. has “publicly positioned outer space as a new battlefield,” noting that the Trump administration plans to build a space force, and claiming that the American military seeks to place “laser weapons in outer space.”
The remarks came in response to criticism from Assistant State Secretary of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Yleem Poblete, who on Tuesday asked how the U.S. could “trust Russian arms control efforts and their seriousness about preventing an arms race in outer space when they have touted the development and completion of a broad array of counter-space capabilities.”
She also voiced skepticism about the trustworthiness of the two world powers:
“Similar to Russia, it is difficult to determine the truthfulness of China’s concern about the prevention of an arms race in space and their support for space arms control when China:
- continues to pursue military capabilities such as jammers and directed energy weapons;
- when it openly emphasizes the need for offensive cyberspace…
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