China's foreign minister warned on Wednesday that there was a "looming danger" of an arms race in outer space, as he urged countries not to deploy missile defence systems that could undermine global security. "The practice of seeking absolute strategic advantage should be abandoned," Yang Jiechi told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
"Countries should neither develop missile defence systems that undermine global strategic security nor deploy weapons in outer space," he added. US President Barack Obama has been reviewing a planned missile defence shield championed by his predecessor, which remains a major source of tension with Russia.
The Obama administration has not backed down from the shield, which would partly be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, but insists that is not directed against Russia. Russia's air force commander said on Monday that Moscow was developing new missiles to counter space-based systems that could soon be deployed by the United States. "Outer space is now facing the looming danger of weaponisation," said Yang.
"Credible and effective multilateral measures must be taken to forestall the weaponisation and arms race in outer space," he added, calling such steps of "high strategic significance." Both Russia and China have proposed a new treaty banning the use of weapons in space, but the idea has been rejected by the United States.
Nonetheless, the issue is one of those up for international discussion under the Conference on Disarmament's recent landmark decision to revive talks after more than a decade of deadlock. In a speech reaffirming China's commitment to international nuclear weapons safeguards and disarmament, Yang backed attempts to strengthen the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency and to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
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