China slams US call to ban anti-satellite missile tests as ‘fake arms control’
- Beijing accuses Washington of attempting ‘real military expansion’ after EU tells the UN it will join proposal to stop destructive ASAT testing
- The proposed ban is opposed by China and Russia, both permanent members of the UN Security Council
The EU statement comes ahead of a meeting by a UN working group on reducing space threats in Geneva next week to discuss on-orbit safety.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday that the US commitment was deceptive since it “sets no substantial limit to US military forces in outer space”, and Washington had already carried out enough direct-ascent missile tests and developed other types of anti-satellite weapons.
Wang said Washington’s purpose was to “maintain and enlarge its unilateral military superiority by means of multilateral commitments” and “achieve real military expansion under the guise of false arms control”.
The EU said it was concerned the use of destructive ASAT might have “widespread and irreversible impacts on the outer space environment”.
The EU said its commitment to supporting the ban was an “urgent and initial measure aimed at preventing damage to the outer space environment, while also contributing to the development of further measures for the prevention of an arms race in outer space”.
“The US has publicly declared space to be a frontier of war, vigorously developed military forces for space, built a space military alliance and provoked confrontation among the major powers,” Wang said.
The proposed ban has been promoted by the administration of US President Joe Biden. US Vice-President Kamala Harris last year announced that Washington would unilaterally end such tests and was planning to introduce a resolution to the UN.
Last December, the UN General Assembly approved a US-sponsored non-binding moratorium on destructive anti-satellite missiles, with 155 countries supporting the motion. China, Russia and seven other countries objected to the move, while India and eight other countries abstained.
China has argued that the US commitment did not address the real security threats in outer space, and the ultimate solution should be a legally binding total prohibition on the deployment of weapons in space, the use of force and the threat of force against space objects.
“We hope that the countries concerned would … abandon the Cold War mentality, stop making and implementing offensive military policies in outer space, and return to the right track of negotiating legal instruments for arms control,” Wang said.