Envoy: China opposes weaponization of outer space

China's ambassador to the United Nations has urged continuing efforts to prevent outer space weaponization, starting of prompt negotiations for a binding arms control treaty and ensuring space remains peaceful for all member states and humanity.

"Outer space is not the private property of a few countries, but the common asset of all humankind," Fu Cong said on Wednesday. "It is not an arena for countries to fight each other, but a new frontier for mutually beneficial cooperation."

The remarks came after the Security Council rejected a draft resolution introduced by the United States and Japan that calls for active contributions to the "objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space".

The resolution gained 13 votes in favor, with Russia vetoing and China abstaining. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the resolution did not go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.

Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said Wednesday's vote was one of the most ridiculous ones in his career in New York, and probably in the history of the UN, because there was absolutely no added value in this draft resolution.

Fu said: "The draft resolution that was just voted on is incomplete and unbalanced and does not reflect to the fullest extent the common interests and the shared call of the 193 member states on the issue of outer space security. Therefore, China had to abstain from the vote on the draft resolution.

"China agrees with the content of the current council draft relating to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. However, these elements represent only one aspect of the governance of outer space security, and the draft should be supplemented with other substantive elements."

The council also rejected an amendment put forward by China and Russia that suggested an additional paragraph, which would have had the council call on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, "to take urgent measures to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space and the threat or use of force in outer space", and "to seek through negotiations the early elaboration of appropriate reliably verifiable legally binding multilateral agreements".

Legally binding rules

The 1967 treaty, passed by the UN General Assembly, bans the placement of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in outer space, prohibits military activities on celestial bodies and details legally binding rules governing the peaceful exploration and use of space.

"I would like to point out that the amendment is not a new text, but elements from a General Assembly resolution supported by over two-thirds of member states," Fu said.

China also firmly opposed a groundless accusation against China over the meeting, he said.

If the US and Japan were truly committed to advancing the council's constructive deliberations on outer space security, they should focus squarely on the risks of outer space being weaponized and the potential arms race in outer space, and they should unequivocally stand for the prohibition of the placement of all types of weapons, including nuclear weapons, in outer space, he said.