Beijing – Beijing warned Monday that the US was turning the cosmos into a”battlefield”, after Washington announced a new military arm called theSpace Force.
Following concerns that China and Russia are challenging its position inspace, US President Donald Trump signed the 2020 National DefenseAuthorization Act on Friday — which created a new branch of the USmilitary.
Beijing responded by accusing the US of “pursuing the weaponisation ofouter space”.
“These actions from the US strongly violate the international consensus ofthe peaceful use of outer space…. posing a direct threat to outer space,peace, and security,” said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at aregular press briefing.
Geng called for the international community to “adopt a prudent andresponsible attitude to prevent outer space from becoming a newbattlefield”.
The Space Force will be the sixth formal force of the US military, afterthe Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard.
“Going to be a lot of things happening in space, because space is theworld’s newest warfighting domain,” Trump told members of the militarygathered for the signing.
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It will be comprised of about 16,000 air force and civilian personnel, somealready taking part in the Space Command, according to Air Force SecretaryBarbara Barrett.
China has been making significant investments in space in recent years andpouring billions into its military-run space programme, with hopes ofhaving a crewed space station by 2022.
In November it completed a test of its Mars exploration lander, ahead ofBeijing’s first mission to the red planet slated for 2020.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency warned in a report earlier this yearthat China and Russia have both developed “robust and capable” spaceservices for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
“China and Russia, in particular, are developing a variety of means toexploit perceived US reliance on space-based systems and challenge the USposition in space,” it said. -APP/AFP
