US rejects Russo-Sino space weapons ban
GENEVA — The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, on Tuesday presented a Russian-Chinese draft treaty banning weapons in space to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, an idea that was quickly rejected by the United States.
Russia and China know they are far behind the United States in the development of space technology. What concerns them is that the US may have, or is in the process of developing, weapons that would establish US preponderance in space. This is of serious concern to both Russia and China because they do not want their space activities subject to US approval.
Since they are unable to develop their own comparable versions of these weapons–and thus able to challenge US control–they must institutionalize the balance of power in space. The only way of checking their disproportionate advantage in technological development is to bind the US to provisions such as prohibiting weapons in space.
The US would never agree to a restriction on its power simply to put Russia and China on an equal playing field. This is especially salient when we consider the future of US space policy, which was revised in 2006:
In this new century, those who effectively utilize space will enjoy added prosperity and security and will hold a substantial advantage over those who do not. Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power. In order to increase knowledge, discovery, economic prosperity, and to enhance the national security, the United States must have robust, effective, and efficient space capabilities.
Russia and China’s proposed space weapons ban is an attempt to stymie what’s certain: the US is going to take its global hegemony into orbit. The only question is how decisive US space weapons systems are today.
It’s known that they successfully tested an anti-satellite weapons system in 1984. By contrast, China was just able to accomplish the same in 2007. That 27 year gap, in addition to the proliferation of computer technology, could have produced some seriously devastating capabilities for the US.
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