US Ambassador Says America Needs To Protect Its Assets

Some high-flying political posturing and rhetoric is coming out of Geneva, Switzerland... as representatives with the United States, China, and Russia hurled accusations Tuesday during a disarmament debate aimed at preventing an all-out arms race in space.

The Associated Press reports US officials decried Beijing's test last month of an anti-satellite missile. Chinese and Russian officials, in turn, said the US refuses to consider a treaty banning such weapons -- and it is the US, not China, that is looking towards establishing an orbital battlefield.

"The notion that introducing weapons and the threat of force into outer space could be a sustainable way of securing strategic advantage and legitimate defense objectives is fundamentally flawed," the countries wrote in a working paper distributed to delegates attending the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament.

Space-borne weapons, the paper went on to say, "are counterproductive and jeopardize the security of all humanity." Speaking from Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said her country "has always advocated the peaceful use of space, and advocates strengthening international exchanges and cooperation on the peaceful use of outer space."

If those words sound hollow -- given China's recent missile test -- well, you're not the only one who thinks so. US Ambassador Christina Rocca says such statements represent misconceptions about US space policy.

Rocca told delegates at the Geneva conference Washington is committed to ensuring space is a peaceful frontier... and that any militant steps taken are aimed at protecting its interests from other countries that have shown hostile intentions.

"Put simply, these assets are vital to our national security, including our economic interests, and must be defended," Rocca told delegates. "The United States is not out to claim space for its own or weaponize it."

Rocca added, however, the US sees the need to develop space-borne defenses to combat technologies in place by a "relatively small number of countries."

"We believe there is no arms race in space, and therefore no problem for arms control to solve," Rocca said, in support of US opposition to a space-arms treaty.

Japanese Ambassador Sumio Tauri defended the US position, calling the proposed Sino-Russian space arms treaty "vague and obscure."

FMI: UNOG Conference On Disarmament