China, Russia Object to Weapons in Space

China and Russia yesterday told a U.N. body that the threat from space-based weapons would be equal to that posed by weapons of mass destruction, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 11).

The U.N. Conference on Disarmament is looking to begin negotiations on preventing an arms race in outer space. The United Kingdom and United States have expressed their opposition to such talks (see GSN, May 18).

Russian Ambassador to the conference Valery Loshchinin likened the weaponization of outer space to the “emergence of a new type of weapon of mass destruction.”

“If there are no weapons in outer space, no room for the use of force, then there will be no arms race there. We must nip it in the bud,” he said.

“A world free of outer space weapons is no less important than a world free of the weapons of mass destruction,” said China’s ambassador to the conference, Cheng Jingye.

“The development of outer space weapons keeps progressing quietly and relevant military doctrine is taking shape,” he said.

The White House is expected issue a new space policy for the first time in a decade this month, according to Reuters (Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 8).

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