Make outer space safe for all

Gregory L. Schulte, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, recently told reporters that the United States has proposed to establish regular dialogue with China in an effort to create rules and reduce the risk of accidents and miscalculations in outer space.

Security in outer space has long been an issue of concern in the global arms control process. Since the late 1990s, China, Russia and some other countries have urged the international community to hold multilateral dialogue to prevent weaponization of outer space, and put forward specific proposals for concluding an international treaty to prevent an arms race in outer space.

But the US has been using every reason to refuse negotiating such a treaty for fear that it may restrict it from maintaining and developing its outer space anti-missile system and compromise its space military technology. Some US conservatives are convinced that the US can use its system and resources to maintain its dominance in space and it is unnecessary for it to hold talks with other countries, because they are quite inferior in terms of using space for military purposes. Hence, the US has been emphasizing freedom in the use of outer space. In essence, it wants to establish its hegemony over outer space.