The heads of state of China and Russia issued a joint statement the other day that, among other things, urged negotiations on a treaty banning weaponization of space so as to stem an arms race in the outer space. Earlier, China's permanent disarmament representative to the United Nations, in his address to the UN Conference for Disarmament, also said the prompt drafting of an international treaty in opposition to weaponization of space has become a common task for international community today.

The United States and the former Soviet Union were not only bent on the development of various types of military satellites but on the research and manufacture of anti-satellite weaponry during the Cold War period. Since 1959, the U.S. has begun to experiment with anti-satellite devices to hit and destroy the "Explorer-6" satellites repeatedly with missiles launched from its airplanes. And in the 1970s, the U.S. succeeded in intercepting satellites by means of launching small-scale interceptors from bombers for a couple of times. The U.S. did not slow down its development of anti-satellite technologies but instead kept up its experiments with new weaponry systems in the post-cold war era. In October of 1997, the US Defense Department claimed that its ground force had successfully hit a target satellite moving in an orbit with its ground laser system. What is more noteworthy is that the U.S. had gone all out to advance its missile defense plan from the early 1990s, and all kinds of anti-missile weapons, either being tested or deployed, were able to intercept targets at a height of 100 kilometers with a capability of intercepting low-orbit satellites. Moreover, any weaponry system on earth today cannot match the potential anti-satellite capability of the US space shuttlecraft.

The United States is a nation of decisive influence with its future outer space exploration and development. In fact, what the global community is concerned about is not its development trend with its outer space technology but "unilateral hues" of its outer space policy. In August of 2006, the US government promulgated the new "National Space Policy", with an allegation that any country or individual "hostile to the US interest were not allowed to enter into the outer space", indicating its mood or intention to access to outer space resources exclusively.

The growth of modern space technology has opened wide prospects for the humankind to know about the outer space and have access to it peacefully. In the meantime, it should also be acknowledged that there has been a tendency of capitalizing on a nation's advantages in its space technology to pursue its own absolute security. For years, many countries have done a lot for the attainment of a grand goal for the peaceful use of the outer space. Since the late 1950s, the UN General Assembly has listed the outer space issue on its agenda and signed a couple of documents, including the "Outer Space Treaty", the "Partial Test Ban Treaty" and the "Moon Treaty", contributing positively to the restrictions on and prevention of weaponization in the outer space.

China, with a certain spaceflight capability, has kept to its principled stance of opposing the weaponization of space. Since 1985, its government has time and again reiterated at conferences for disarmament at the UN its firm opposition to the deployment of weaponry system and armed races of any form in the outer space. Furthermore, in view of loopholes in the spheres of outer space weaponization in the existing international treaties, China has for years proposed negotiating agendas at the UN Conference for Disarmament and actively pressed ahead with the formation of a new banning treaty on outer space weaponization along with Russia.

As the outer space is the common property of the humankind, it represents a universal aspiration of the international community to use it for peaceful purposes. It remains a thorny issue whether or not the outer space of the future will be a realm of peace to bring happiness to people or be turned into the fourth dimensional battleground of fierce fighting next to those on the land and in maritime waters and blue skies. This tough issue is now indeed at the crossroad with a pressing demand for a quick solution. Either out of its "capabilities" or of its strategic intentions", the United States, beyond any doubt, has a special accountability and obligations in this regard. Faced with severe challenges, it is possible to make the outer space a new sphere or a new realm to benefit the humankind only with pooled consensuses and joint efforts made by the entire global community.

Editor: Yan