China Stands for Complete Prohibition of All Outer Space Weapons

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- China Stands for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all weapons deployed in outer space, says a white paper issued by the Information Office of the State Council of China today.

The white paper "China's National Defense" says that outer space belongs to all mankind, and should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes to benefit mankind. China opposes the development of anti-satellite weapons.

The white paper says that the international community, the big powers with the capacity to utilize outer space in particular, should take realistic steps to prevent a weaponized outer space.

The white paper urges the international community to work together to achieve a complete ban on weapons of any kind in outer space, including anti-missile and anti-satellite weapons, so as to keep outer space free of weapons.

The international community should also ban the use of force or conduct of hostilities in, from or to outer space, all countries should undertake neither to experiment with, produce or deploy outer space weapons nor to utilize outer space to seek strategic advantages on the ground, for example, using disposition of the important parts of ground anti-missile systems in outer space for the purpose of developing strategic defensive weapons, the white paper says.

In addition, the white paper says, negotiations should be held as soon as possible for the conclusion of a legally-binding international agreement with the above-mentioned contents.

The white paper says that since the beginning of the 1980s, as one of the co-sponsors of the UN General Assembly resolutions on keeping outer space weapon-free, China has promoted negotiations on this problem at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament and through other multilateral mechanisms.

"As early as at the founding of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Conference on Disarmament on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, China submitted to it a paper on China's Position on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (CD/579). Many countries have supported China's position," the white paper says.