China’s allegation- America intensified militarization of space

China has accused the US of militarizing space. The response came a day after China protested the passage of a US Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft through the Taiwan Strait, amid a suspension of military-to-military contacts. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Tan Kefei said on Friday that US actions, including the establishment of the Space Force in 2019 as the latest branch of the military, “have had a very negative impact on space security and global strategic stability.” “In recent years, the US has accelerated the militarization of space,” Tan said.

“I would like to reiterate here that China adheres to the peaceful use of space, firmly opposes the weaponisation and turning of space into a battlefield, and opposes any kind of arms race in space,” he said. The ministry said Tan was responding to concerns recently expressed by space force leaders over China’s growing capabilities, which he called “classical cognitive dissonance”. China’s progress in space includes its own orbiting space station and plans for a crewed lunar mission.

It faced international condemnation after a missile shot down one of its defunct weather satellites in 2007, scattering debris over an area that remains a threat to other objects in orbit. The US has sent several senior officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, to visit China, but relations between the two countries remain cold. China has categorically refused to re-establish contact between the two armies. This has been done ostensibly in protest against US defensive arms sales to Taiwan and sanctions against Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu.