Prevention of Outer Space Arms Race Priority for China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 03, 2002

Prevention of Outer Space Arms Race Priority for China

A senior Chinese diplomat Wednesday morning urged the international community to sign an international covenant preventing outer space arms race.

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A senior Chinese diplomat Wednesday morning urged the international community to sign an international covenant preventing outer space arms race.

Addressing an international conference on the disarmament agenda for the 21st century sponsored by the United Nations and China's Foreign Ministry, Qiao Zonghuai, vice-minister of foreign affairs, spoke on effective ways to prevent this occurring.

Qiao said that human beings have made huge achievements in the exploration and utilization of outer space technology, thus greatly boosting the development of the world.

On March 25, China successfully launched its third unmanned spacecraft "Shenzhou III", which symbolizes the huge step China has made in outer space technology, he added.

However, some countries are still developing outer space arms. Military strategies for "controlling outer space" and "ensuring advantage in outer space" have been put forward, which increase the likelihood of an arms race in outer space, he said.

He warned that if this happens, man's peaceful development of outer space would be jeopardized, and the interests of all countries, including those advanced in outer space technology, would be affected.

The international community should adopt effective preventive measures and make a special international agreement to ban any weapons of destruction from outer space which could prevent a space arms race, he pointed out.

Qiao also gave a brief account of China's proposals in this respect, which include banning weapon experimentation, the placing and using any space arms in outer space, on land, on the ocean or within earth's atmosphere, and banning the use or threatened use of arms against any object in outer space.

He stressed that China is willing to join hands with the international community to exert every effort to come to such an agreement and to strive for peace in outer space.

Other participants of the meeting also voiced similar concerns,stressing the importance of banning weapons from outer space and a space arms race.

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