China missile test is justified
by Dhananjay Khadilkar
Friday, February 16, 2007 21:56 IST
MUMBAI: The anti-satellite missile test was China's way of bringing the US to the negotiating table for stopping the proliferation of space weapons. This was stated by Alfred Webre, co-architect of the Space Preservation Treaty and the Space Preservation Act that was introduced in the US Congress.
Talking to DNA about the Chinese test, Webre said that for the past 6 years China and Russia had played a positive role to curb the proliferation of space weapons.
However, the Bush administration had unilaterally terminated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signed by Nixon and Brezhnev in 2002 with a clear intention of developing highly sophisticated space weapons to dominate the world. It was in response to the US belligerence that China conducted the anti-satellite missile test.
According to Webre, the US government is engaged in the development of a platform in space which will be used to launch laser, depleted Uranium weapons called 'Rods of god', with an aim to dominate earth as well as space.
"The new space weapons are so sophisticated that an object of the size of the football can be targeted," Webre said.
The US wants to claim ownership of outer space which is a violation of the 1968 UN treaty on outer space.
Webre though feels that despite there being some justification there are a lot of negatives associated with the Chinese test. "The US would use this test as an excuse to further accelerate the development of missile defence system."
"Also, the destruction of a satellite has resulted in the increase of junk in space which poses a great threat to the satellites and space vehicles," he added.
Considering the current geopolitical scenario in which China is pitted against the US, the anti-satellite test won't be enough to force the US to back off from its agenda.
"Anything that China does is perceived as anti-US and vice-versa. A third country therefore can play a crucial role in bringing both the sides to the table and sign the Space Preservation Treaty," Webre said.
According to Webre, that country could be India. "India is a space superpower as well as an advocate of non-proliferation. India can easily attract a number of countries to sign the Space Preservation Treaty which bans the use of space weapons and promotes space economy."
Original article: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1080422
URL of this article: http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2007/02/china_missile_t.html
Friday, February 16, 2007 21:56 IST
MUMBAI: The anti-satellite missile test was China's way of bringing the US to the negotiating table for stopping the proliferation of space weapons. This was stated by Alfred Webre, co-architect of the Space Preservation Treaty and the Space Preservation Act that was introduced in the US Congress.
Talking to DNA about the Chinese test, Webre said that for the past 6 years China and Russia had played a positive role to curb the proliferation of space weapons.
However, the Bush administration had unilaterally terminated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signed by Nixon and Brezhnev in 2002 with a clear intention of developing highly sophisticated space weapons to dominate the world. It was in response to the US belligerence that China conducted the anti-satellite missile test.
According to Webre, the US government is engaged in the development of a platform in space which will be used to launch laser, depleted Uranium weapons called 'Rods of god', with an aim to dominate earth as well as space.
"The new space weapons are so sophisticated that an object of the size of the football can be targeted," Webre said.
The US wants to claim ownership of outer space which is a violation of the 1968 UN treaty on outer space.
Webre though feels that despite there being some justification there are a lot of negatives associated with the Chinese test. "The US would use this test as an excuse to further accelerate the development of missile defence system."
"Also, the destruction of a satellite has resulted in the increase of junk in space which poses a great threat to the satellites and space vehicles," he added.
Considering the current geopolitical scenario in which China is pitted against the US, the anti-satellite test won't be enough to force the US to back off from its agenda.
"Anything that China does is perceived as anti-US and vice-versa. A third country therefore can play a crucial role in bringing both the sides to the table and sign the Space Preservation Treaty," Webre said.
According to Webre, that country could be India. "India is a space superpower as well as an advocate of non-proliferation. India can easily attract a number of countries to sign the Space Preservation Treaty which bans the use of space weapons and promotes space economy."
Original article: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1080422
URL of this article: http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2007/02/china_missile_t.html
China's Missile Message - Council on Foreign Relations: "China's Missile Message
Author: Elizabeth C. Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies
January 25, 2007The Washington Post
China's successful anti-satellite missile test has sparked a political firestorm, as analysts have tried to ascertain who in China knew what when and to what end. Were China%u2019s diplomats in the dark about the missile strike? Was it all a gambit to force a reluctant United States to the negotiating table for a ban on space-based weapons? While interesting to China watchers and nonproliferation experts, this discussion risks obscuring the real message of the test: Chinese rhetoric notwithstanding, China%u2019s rise will be as disruptive and difficult as that of any other global power.Officials in both Beijing and Washington have worked hard to sketch out an alternative reality. China%u2019s leaders have traversed the globe, preaching the gospel of the country%u2019s peaceful rise, often to great effect: China will do things differently than the United States and earlier European powers did, not polluting the environment, not colonizing countries to gain access to their natural resources and not infringing on the sovereignty of other countries. For their part, senior U.S. officials, with a growing list of challenging issues on their China agenda, are reluctant to focus for too long on the reality of China%u2019s rise. Doing so would only make cooperation more difficult and provide support to an often obstreperous anti-China lobby in Congress. It is easier to paint China%u2019s rise as a work in progress%u2014one that the United States has the ability to influence."
China's Missile Message - Council on Foreign Relations
Security: China's Space Ambitions, Issue #2
21 March 2006
21 March 2006
Author: Eric Hagt, WSI China Director
The second issue of the World Security Institute’s China Security journal has been released today. Produced by the World Security Institute’s China Program, China Security is a unique policy journal featuring Chinese scholars who provide their perspective on vital traditional and non-traditional security issues that impact China ’s strategic development and its relations with the United States . The English-language journal seeks to build bridges between Washington and Beijing on today’s security issues.
The second issue of China Security is focused on the Chinese space program. In this issue, China Security features six Chinese authors and two American authors who discuss China 's space program and policies and how the Chinese are affected by U.S. activities in space. In addition, World Security Institute President Bruce Blair and Co-Director of the World Security Institute’s International Media Division Chen Yali provide a comprehensive overview of the issue’s salient arguments in their “Editors’ Notes.”
This issue of China Security also provides English-translated reviews of expert articles only available in Chinese, including a review of the new Chinese National Television (CCTV) documentary on the history of the Chinese space program, “Shaking the Heavens.”
A number of articles and books recently published by Chinese authors on space weaponization, civilian space programs and the exploitation of space resources are also explored.
To subscribe to the electronic PDF version, or to receive a hard copy of China Security, please email: info@wsichina.org. Please note that there are a limited number of hard copies available.
Editors’ Notes: The Space Security Dilemma, by Bruce Blair and Chen Yali “Bilateral exchanges…and constructive proposals for cooperation have barely begun in the arena of space policy. The dialogue is oblique, long on rhetoric and short on information.” --Bruce Blair, president of the World Security Institute, and Chen Yali, editor-in-chief of Washington Observer Weekly
China’s Space Mission, by Chang Xianqi and Sui Junqin “ China does not have any plan to use micro-satellites as anti-satellite weapons…since China is neither the first country to possess this technology, nor the country with the most advanced technology, it seems incomprehensible that China should cause concern to others.” --Chang Xianqi, professor and former president of the Institute of Command & Technology, and Sui Junqin, Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Command & Technology.
Security in Space, by Zhang Hui “…a proposal that restricted ASATs while allowing the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system would be perceived by China as discriminatory…any partial arms control measure involving China should emphasize this concern.” --Zhang Hui, research associate at the Project on Managing the Atom of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
Strategic Communication, by Joan Johnson-Freese “When the United States pursues certain technologies…it is for connectivity in a global world. When China pursues similar technology, nefarious intent is assumed because of its Communist government.” --Joan Johnson-Freese, chair of the department of national security studies at the Naval War College
Shenzhou and Dreams of Space, by Sun Dangen “When the success of the manned space program helps consolidate the country’s strength, it will further lock China in the development path of protecting national security with advancement of science and technology and national comprehensive strength.” --Sun Dangen, senior research fellow at the Academy of Military Sciences Space Weaponization, by Teng Jianqun
“It is reasonable to assume that the development of human productivity will ineluctably bring war from land, sea and air into outer space if no constraints are placed on it. The international community should draw lessons from history and should either halt the current drift toward space weaponization or, at the very least, slow its trend.” --Teng Jianqun, director of the research department of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association
Space and Export Control, by Guo Xiaobing “It is high time the U.S. chart a new course and dispose of a policy that has not only failed in its goal of preventing China ’s development in space, but has alienated China and fueled an adversarial relationship between the two countries.” --Guo Xiaobing, researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations
Vulnerabilities in Space, by Eric Hagt “An environment, where each fears the other will be first to develop and deploy weapons and gain the military advantage in space, creates a vicious circle that threatens to undermine the security interests of both countries as well as the international community.” --Eric Hagt , director of the China Program at the World Security Institute
Development Goals in Space, by Wu Chunsi “China does not have the luxury of engaging in a military competition with superpowers in space, or in other areas.” --Wu Chunsi, associate professor at the Center for American Studies, Fudan University
The World Security Institute is a non-profit organization committed to independent research and journalism on global affairs. Given the extraordinary growth of global interdependence, the Institute provides an innovative approach to communication, education, and cooperation on the social, economic, environmental, political and military components of international security. Through a variety of publications and services, the World Security Institute provides news and research-based analysis to policy-makers around the globe – from decision-makers in Washington , D.C. and Moscow , to scholars in the Farsi- and Arabic-speaking world, to scientists in China .
The Institute serves as an authoritative and impartial monitor of security issues, while continuing to meet the increasing worldwide demand for information and independent ideas. In 2004, the World Security Institute successfully launched a new effort dedicated to promoting research and dialogue between China and the United States on a range of traditional and non-traditional security issues that deeply impact this crucial relationship.
The China Program presently focuses on a number of core projects: China-U.S. Dialogue on Space; China’s Energy Security: New Approaches, Media and Policy; and Challenges for China, the United States, and Europe: A Trialogue on Comprehensive Security. Click here for the PDF version of China Security.
Additional Contact: Eric Hagt , Editor, China Security: Tel: 202.332.0600, ehagt@wsichina.org
(Via World Security Institute.)
China Shows Assertiveness in Weapons Test
By JOSEPH KAHN
Published: January 20, 2007
New York Times / Space
BEIJING, Jan. 19 — China’s apparent success in destroying one of its own orbiting satellites with a ballistic missile signals that its rising military intends to contest American supremacy in space, a realm many here consider increasingly crucial to national security.
The test of an antisatellite weapon last week, which Beijing declined to confirm or deny Friday despite widespread news coverage and diplomatic inquiries, was perceived by East Asia experts as China’s most provocative military action since it testfired missiles off the coast of Taiwan more than a decade ago.
Unlike in the Taiwan exercise, the message this time was directed mainly at the United States, the sole superpower in space.
With lengthy white papers, energetic diplomacy and generous aid policies, Chinese officials have taken pains in recent years to present their country as a new kind of global power that, unlike the United States, has only good will toward other nations.
But some analysts say the test shows that the reality is more complex. China has surging national wealth, legitimate security concerns and an opaque military bureaucracy that may belie the government’s promise of a “peaceful rise.”
“This is the other face of China, the hard power side that they usually keep well hidden,” said Chong-Pin Lin, an expert on China’s military in Taiwan. “They talk more about peace and diplomacy, but the push to develop lethal, high-tech capabilities has not slowed down at all.”
Japan, South Korea and Australia are among the countries in the region that pressed China to explain the test, which if real would make it the third power, after the United States and the Soviet Union, to shoot down an object in space.
China’s Foreign and Defense Ministries declined to comment on reports of the test, which were based on United States intelligence data. Liu Jianchao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, would say only that China opposed using weapons in space. “China will not participate in any kind of arms race in outer space,” he told Reuters.
China’s silence on the test underscores how much its rapidly modernizing military — perhaps especially the Second Artillery forces, in charge of its ballistic missile program — remains isolated and secretive, answering only to President Hu Jintao, who heads the military as well as the ruling Communist Party.
Having a weapon that can disable or destroy satellites is considered a component of China’s unofficial doctrine of asymmetrical warfare. China’s army strategists have written that the military intends to use relatively inexpensive but highly disruptive technologies to impede the better-equipped and better-trained American forces in the event of an armed conflict — over Taiwan, for example.
The Pentagon makes extensive use of satellites for military communications, intelligence and missile guidance, and some Chinese experts have argued that damaging its space-based satellite infrastructure could hobble American forces.
Yet while China’s research and development of such weapons has been well known, the apparent decision to test-fire an antisatellite weapon came as a surprise to many analysts.
“If this is fully corroborated, it is a very significant event that is likely to recast relations between the United States and China,” said Allan Behm, a former official in Australia’s Defense Ministry. “This was a very sophisticated thing to do, and the willingness to do it means that we’re seeing a different level of threat.”
China’s military expenditures have been growing at nearly a double-digit pace, even after adjusting for inflation, for 15 years. China has begun to deploy sophisticated submarines, aircraft and antiship missiles that the Pentagon says could have offensive uses.
Yet with a few notable exceptions, Beijing has avoided sharp provocations that could prompt the United States or Japan to focus more on what some officials in each country regard as a potential threat.
Chinese leaders emphasize that they are preoccupied with domestic challenges and intend to focus their energy and resources on economic development, a policy they say depends heavily on cross-border investment, open trade and friendly foreign relations.
The country has denied that it intends to develop space weapons and sharply criticized the United States for experimenting with a space-based missile defense system. It forged a coalition of Asian countries to jointly develop peaceful space-based technologies.
Last month it published and heavily promoted a white paper on military strategy that emphasized its view that space must remain weapon-free. “China is unflinching in taking the road of peaceful development and always maintains that outer space is the common wealth of mankind,” the paper said.
Some of such talk amounts to little more than propaganda. But Jonathan Pollack, a China specialist at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., says the Chinese military does in fact act cautiously when it comes to improving its strategic capabilities, like long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, to avoid causing alarm in the United States.
“They have talked about antisatellite weapons,” he said. “But we have always thought that the threat was ambiguous and that China probably wanted it that way. So what was the calculation to go ahead with an actual test?”
Some analysts suggested that one possible motivation was to prod the Bush administration to negotiate a treaty to ban space weapons. Russia and China have advocated such a treaty, but President Bush rejected those calls when he authorized a policy that seeks to preserve “freedom of action” in space.
Chinese officials have warned that an arms race could ensue if Washington did not change course.
At a United Nations conference in Vienna last June on uses of space, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official, Tang Guoqiang, called the policies of “certain nations” disconcerting.
“Outer space is the common heritage of mankind, and weaponization of outer space is bound to trigger off an arms race, thus rendering outer space a new arena for military confrontation,” he said, according to an official transcript of his remarks.
Even so, Mr. Pollack, of the Naval War College, said that if China hoped that demonstrating a new weapon of this kind would prompt a positive response in Washington, they most likely miscalculated.
“Very frankly, many people in Washington will find that this validates the view of a China threat,” Mr. Pollack said. “It could well end up backfiring and forcing the U.S. to take new steps to counter China.”
Other analysts said the test might have more to do with proving a technology under development for many years than a cold-war-style negotiating tactic.
China maintains a minimal nuclear arsenal that could inflict enough damage on an enemy to guard against any pre-emptive strike, these analysts said. But the increasing sophistication of American missile interceptors, which are linked to satellite surveillance, threatens the viability of China’s limited nuclear arsenal, some in Beijing have argued.
That may have prompted the Second Artillery to show that it had the means to protect fixed missile sites and ensure China’s retaliatory capacity by showing that it could take out American satellites.
At the annual military fair in Zhuhai, held in November, the Guangdong-based newspaper Information Times and several other state-run media outlets carried a short interview with an unidentified military official boasting that China had “already completely ensured that it has second-strike capability.” The analyst said China could protect its retaliatory forces because it could destroy satellites in space.
American officials have also noted the development. This month, Lt. Gen. Michael Mapes of the Army testified before Congress that China and Russia were working on systems to hit American satellites with lasers or missiles. And over the summer, the director of the National Reconnaissance Office, Donald M. Kerr, told reporters that the Chinese had used a ground-based laser to “paint,” or illuminate, an American satellite, a possible first step to using lasers to destroy satellites.
“China is becoming more assertive in just about every military field,” said Mr. Behm, the Australian expert. “It is not going to concede that the U.S. can be the hegemon in space forever.”
By JOSEPH KAHN
Published: January 20, 2007
New York Times / Space
BEIJING, Jan. 19 — China’s apparent success in destroying one of its own orbiting satellites with a ballistic missile signals that its rising military intends to contest American supremacy in space, a realm many here consider increasingly crucial to national security.
The test of an antisatellite weapon last week, which Beijing declined to confirm or deny Friday despite widespread news coverage and diplomatic inquiries, was perceived by East Asia experts as China’s most provocative military action since it testfired missiles off the coast of Taiwan more than a decade ago.
Unlike in the Taiwan exercise, the message this time was directed mainly at the United States, the sole superpower in space.
With lengthy white papers, energetic diplomacy and generous aid policies, Chinese officials have taken pains in recent years to present their country as a new kind of global power that, unlike the United States, has only good will toward other nations.
But some analysts say the test shows that the reality is more complex. China has surging national wealth, legitimate security concerns and an opaque military bureaucracy that may belie the government’s promise of a “peaceful rise.”
“This is the other face of China, the hard power side that they usually keep well hidden,” said Chong-Pin Lin, an expert on China’s military in Taiwan. “They talk more about peace and diplomacy, but the push to develop lethal, high-tech capabilities has not slowed down at all.”
Japan, South Korea and Australia are among the countries in the region that pressed China to explain the test, which if real would make it the third power, after the United States and the Soviet Union, to shoot down an object in space.
China’s Foreign and Defense Ministries declined to comment on reports of the test, which were based on United States intelligence data. Liu Jianchao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, would say only that China opposed using weapons in space. “China will not participate in any kind of arms race in outer space,” he told Reuters.
China’s silence on the test underscores how much its rapidly modernizing military — perhaps especially the Second Artillery forces, in charge of its ballistic missile program — remains isolated and secretive, answering only to President Hu Jintao, who heads the military as well as the ruling Communist Party.
Having a weapon that can disable or destroy satellites is considered a component of China’s unofficial doctrine of asymmetrical warfare. China’s army strategists have written that the military intends to use relatively inexpensive but highly disruptive technologies to impede the better-equipped and better-trained American forces in the event of an armed conflict — over Taiwan, for example.
The Pentagon makes extensive use of satellites for military communications, intelligence and missile guidance, and some Chinese experts have argued that damaging its space-based satellite infrastructure could hobble American forces.
Yet while China’s research and development of such weapons has been well known, the apparent decision to test-fire an antisatellite weapon came as a surprise to many analysts.
“If this is fully corroborated, it is a very significant event that is likely to recast relations between the United States and China,” said Allan Behm, a former official in Australia’s Defense Ministry. “This was a very sophisticated thing to do, and the willingness to do it means that we’re seeing a different level of threat.”
China’s military expenditures have been growing at nearly a double-digit pace, even after adjusting for inflation, for 15 years. China has begun to deploy sophisticated submarines, aircraft and antiship missiles that the Pentagon says could have offensive uses.
Yet with a few notable exceptions, Beijing has avoided sharp provocations that could prompt the United States or Japan to focus more on what some officials in each country regard as a potential threat.
Chinese leaders emphasize that they are preoccupied with domestic challenges and intend to focus their energy and resources on economic development, a policy they say depends heavily on cross-border investment, open trade and friendly foreign relations.
The country has denied that it intends to develop space weapons and sharply criticized the United States for experimenting with a space-based missile defense system. It forged a coalition of Asian countries to jointly develop peaceful space-based technologies.
Last month it published and heavily promoted a white paper on military strategy that emphasized its view that space must remain weapon-free. “China is unflinching in taking the road of peaceful development and always maintains that outer space is the common wealth of mankind,” the paper said.
Some of such talk amounts to little more than propaganda. But Jonathan Pollack, a China specialist at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., says the Chinese military does in fact act cautiously when it comes to improving its strategic capabilities, like long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, to avoid causing alarm in the United States.
“They have talked about antisatellite weapons,” he said. “But we have always thought that the threat was ambiguous and that China probably wanted it that way. So what was the calculation to go ahead with an actual test?”
Some analysts suggested that one possible motivation was to prod the Bush administration to negotiate a treaty to ban space weapons. Russia and China have advocated such a treaty, but President Bush rejected those calls when he authorized a policy that seeks to preserve “freedom of action” in space.
Chinese officials have warned that an arms race could ensue if Washington did not change course.
At a United Nations conference in Vienna last June on uses of space, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official, Tang Guoqiang, called the policies of “certain nations” disconcerting.
“Outer space is the common heritage of mankind, and weaponization of outer space is bound to trigger off an arms race, thus rendering outer space a new arena for military confrontation,” he said, according to an official transcript of his remarks.
Even so, Mr. Pollack, of the Naval War College, said that if China hoped that demonstrating a new weapon of this kind would prompt a positive response in Washington, they most likely miscalculated.
“Very frankly, many people in Washington will find that this validates the view of a China threat,” Mr. Pollack said. “It could well end up backfiring and forcing the U.S. to take new steps to counter China.”
Other analysts said the test might have more to do with proving a technology under development for many years than a cold-war-style negotiating tactic.
China maintains a minimal nuclear arsenal that could inflict enough damage on an enemy to guard against any pre-emptive strike, these analysts said. But the increasing sophistication of American missile interceptors, which are linked to satellite surveillance, threatens the viability of China’s limited nuclear arsenal, some in Beijing have argued.
That may have prompted the Second Artillery to show that it had the means to protect fixed missile sites and ensure China’s retaliatory capacity by showing that it could take out American satellites.
At the annual military fair in Zhuhai, held in November, the Guangdong-based newspaper Information Times and several other state-run media outlets carried a short interview with an unidentified military official boasting that China had “already completely ensured that it has second-strike capability.” The analyst said China could protect its retaliatory forces because it could destroy satellites in space.
American officials have also noted the development. This month, Lt. Gen. Michael Mapes of the Army testified before Congress that China and Russia were working on systems to hit American satellites with lasers or missiles. And over the summer, the director of the National Reconnaissance Office, Donald M. Kerr, told reporters that the Chinese had used a ground-based laser to “paint,” or illuminate, an American satellite, a possible first step to using lasers to destroy satellites.
“China is becoming more assertive in just about every military field,” said Mr. Behm, the Australian expert. “It is not going to concede that the U.S. can be the hegemon in space forever.”
Space without Weapons: "How to move forward: NGO Approaches and Initiatives for
addressing Space Security
By Rebecca Johnson, The Acronym Institute for Disarmament
Diplomacy.
Notes for presentation at Joint Conference on 'Future
Security in Space: Commercial, Military and Arms Control
Trade-Offs', the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
the Mountbatten Centre, May 28-29, 2002.
This paper was published in James Clay Moltz (ed), Future Security in
Space: Commercial, Military, and Arms Control Trade-Offs,
Monterey Institute Center for Nonproliferation Studies and
Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, Occasional Paper No.
10 (July 2002)."
(Excerpt on Space Preservation Bill)
The most uncompromising of the NGOs working on space issues, the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, helped initiate and strongly supports a Space Preservation Bill tabled in the House of Representative by Dennis Kucinich (Democrat-Ohio) as HR 3616 (January 2002) In essence, the bill calls on the U.S. to ban all research, development, testing, and deployment of space-based weapons. If passed, it would also require the United States to enter negotiations toward an international treaty to ban weapons in space. The Global Network is now soliciting American groups and individuals and international groups to pledge their support to Kucinich's Bill. Such initiatives, although unlikely to be successful per se, can be very useful in raising the issue and focussing public and political attention. There is, however, one potential danger that has to be taken into account by proponents of national legislation and particularly by advocates of early international treaty negotiations: that premature legislative initiatives may also serve to focus and strengthen the opposition to such measures, thereby "inoculating" the issue against later, more pragmatically targeted initiatives to prevent the weaponisation of space. I am not making an argument against initiatives such as the Kucinich Bill, which can be a very helpful rallying point for activists, so much as sounding a note of caution about how it is used.
Read the whole text
Czechs Give Go-Ahead for US 'Son of Star Wars' Base: "Czechs Give Go-Ahead for US 'Son of Star Wars' Base"
(Via Common Dreams | News & Views.)
Czechs Give Go-Ahead for US 'Son of Star Wars' BaseSpace without Weapons:
(Excerpt)
By Rebecca Johnson, The Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy
Conclusions
"I will conclude with four brief points.
i) There is still a need to forge alliances and communicate better with commercial and military players, including in the United States, who are rationally capable of recognising the weaponisation of space as a threat to their interests and activities.
ii) We need to engage parliamentarians now much more effectively, to raise the level of debate in different countries and regional institutions such as the European Union, and to provide them with the information and questions to ask governments, defence ministries and regional alliances such as NATO.
iii) We need to do more to break down the institutional and political barriers so as to address both the civilian and military aspects of space security more coherently.
iv) To adapt a principle of political strategy (think globally but act locally), we need to think comprehensively, but build the space security architecture incrementally!
Thank you.
[1] The connection between Sputnik's 50th anniversary and the OST's 40th anniversary was made by Will Marshall during the question and discussion session after my presentation, and I am glad to incorporate his suggestion for timing the OST review conference to coincide with this.
© 2006 The Acronym Institute."
Space without Weapons
Responses to Chinese test [5]: "
Most Russian news repeated almost verbatim the US and British press reports on the Chinese ASAT test, but there is a little info this afternoon on the Russian reaction. (Only Russian language links are up for now, translations are mine.)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov commented to reporters that he has heard reports of the Chinese test, but thinks that the rumors are quite abstract and are exaggerated.
In an interview, vice-preseident of the Russian Academy of geopolitcal affairs, General Leonid Ivashov, said that he thinks the Chinese used Russian developments for making their antisatellite missiles:
‘I think that China used as a base our Soviet IS-1 (statellite destroyer) system, modernized it and carried out a test.’[snip]
‘We remember Bush’s announcements about monopolization of space and his threat to destroy all unidentified satellites. Therefore it is possible to say that, it is indeed the Americans who are provoking a new arms race in space ’ [Ivashov] said, noting that China is compelled to react to such US policy.
Japan and Australia seem more concerned than the Russians, and have demanded explanations from the Chinese government.
"(Via ArmsControlWonk.)
Responses to Chinese test [5]Congressional Reaction to Chinese ASAT Test: "
House Science and Technology Chair Gordon Comments on Reported Chinese ASAT Test
'I am deeply concerned about the reported Chinese anti-satellite test. I believe that it is ill-advised for a number of reasons: it is destabilizing; the debris cloud created as a result of the test increases the risk to civil and commercial satellites; and the test fosters an environment that will make it more difficult to consider potential cooperation with China in civil space activities. I hope that this will be the last such test to occur.'
'The Chinese anti-satellite test is terrible news for international stability and security, and could presage the dawn of a new arms race -- this time in space,' Rep. Markey said. 'American satellites are the soft underbelly of our national security, and it is urgent that President Bush move to guarantee their protection by initiating an international agreement to ban the development, testing, and deployment of space weapons and anti-satellite systems.'
(Via NASA Watch.)
Congressional Reaction to Chinese ASAT TestChina ASAT test reactions and questions: "
The news first announced Wednesday night that China tested an ASAT weapon last week, destroying a satellite, became one of the biggest stories internationally yesterday. The report was confirmed by a National Security Council spokesman yesterday morning, and by the end of the day the US and other countries, including Canada, Japan, Australia, and South Korea, had 'expressed concern' about the test. The Chinese have remained silent, with no news about the test in state-run media.
The test does raise several questions about which there has been a lot of speculation, but few firm answers:
Why did China conduct the test? The test took a lot of people by surprise (although apparently not in the US intelligence community, which believed that a test was imminent), both because of the bluntness of it and the fact that, prior to it, China had insisted it had no interest in space weapons and was pushing for a treaty to ban such devices. 'There’s nothing subtle about this,' Michael Krepon of the Stimson Center told the New York Times. Does this mean that China is no longer interested in a ban on such weapons, or is it an effort to get the attention of the US and force it to the negotiation table?
How will the Bush Administration respond? Will the US, in fact, reconsider its stance on PAROS, now that there is evidence of an 'arms race in space', or will it push the US to accelerate work on defensive and offensive counterspace systems? The Union of Concerned Scientists wants the US to take the former path, but that would involve a significant change of course from the current national space policy.
What about Congress? The House and Senate armed services committees will get classified briefings about the Chinese ASAT test today, Space News reports [subscription required]. One member of Congress, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, condemned the test in a statement but also called on the administration to negotiate a ban on space weapons. 'American satellites are the soft underbelly of our national security, and it is urgent that President Bush move to guarantee their protection by initiating an international agreement to ban the development, testing, and deployment of space weapons and anti-satellite systems.'
"
(Via Space Politics.)
China ASAT test reactions and questionsCANADA: Liberals would seek international ban on weaponization of space: leaked platform: "
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Wednesday » January 11 » 2006
Grits would seek international ban on weaponization of space: leaked platform.
Alexander Panetta
Canadian Press
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
MONTREAL (CP) - Canada would seek an international deal to permanently ban weapons in space under a re-elected Liberal government, according to a leaked copy of the party's platform.
The pledge is aimed at rallying the nation's more moderate voters behind the Liberals in a late-campaign drive to reverse the governing party's sagging electoral prospects. Paul Martin will take that stand against weapons in space when he unveils his party platform as early as Wednesday and will paint the pledge as the latest in a long line of Liberal-led peace initiatives.
The idea will almost certainly meet with hostility from the U.S. government, coming on the heels of Canada's refusal to sign on to the American missile-defence project.
As much as that missile snub irritated the White House, public opinion polls conducted earlier this year suggested it was a crowd-pleaser in Canada.
The weapons pledge is one of the few headline-grabbing announcements left for a Liberal party seeking to strike a chord with voters before the Jan. 23 election.
'Liberals are firmly opposed to the weaponization of space and recognize that the best time to prevent an arms race in space is before one begins,' says the leaked version of the platform.
The 85-page document was posted on the website for the conservative Western Standard magazine and confirms unpublished rumours of an impending Liberal space-weapons announcement.
The proposal is modelled on the 1999 international mine ban treaty, for which then-foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
While the Liberal minister did not win the award, he was applauded for an effort that now includes 146 countries and helped clear more than 130 million square metres of land mines around the world.
The United States, China, India and Russia did not sign on to that treaty and it's entirely possible that the world military powers will also take a dim view of the space-weapons pledge.
The Liberals plan to also draw parallels between their proposed space-weapons plan and past initiatives like Pierre Trudeau's nuclear-disarmament tour and Lester B. Pearson's role in resolving the 1956 Suez crisis, which earned him the Nobel prize.
There is at least one notable difference between Martin's impending promise and the land-mines initiative it is supposed to emulate.
Unlike land mines - a global scourge that has killed and maimed thousands of civilians around the world - there are no weapons in space and won't be for the foreseeable future.
The U.S. says its current missile project, which includes interceptor sites in Alaska and California, does not include imminent plans for weapons in space.
Furthermore, the leaked document concedes that an existing international agreement already bans weapons of mass destruction in space. It adds, however, that no such deal exists for smaller-scale weapons.
The rest of the leaked Liberal platform largely confirms recently announced promises. Those pledges include:
- $30 billion in personal income-tax cuts.
- Eliminating the $975 landing fee for immigrants.
- Up to $3,000 to help first-and last-year undergraduate students with tuition and a $150 million fund to offset tuition costs for those wishing to study abroad.
- $3.5 billion for workplace skills training.
- A so-called 'ban' on handguns that would require collectors to disarm their weapons. The plan would also see millions go to police and community projects to help reduce urban crime.
- Continuing to reduce the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio to 20 per cent by 2020 - a level unseen since the early 1970s.
The political aims of the space-weapons ban are unmistakeable.
The Liberals have struggled to find Canada-U.S. wedge issues that would force their Conservatives rivals into an uneasy defence of the more unpopular policies of the U.S. Bush administration.
That strategy - which Martin has attempted on climate change, gun control, the Iraq war and on missile defence - has met with limited success during the campaign.
When Martin rebuked his foes for sharing Washington's hostility to the Kyoto climate-change accord, analysts correctly pointed out his own government's woeful record on greenhouse-gas emissions.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has also tempered his enthusiasm for President George W. Bush's Iraq invasion and for the missile project.
It was the same with gun control.
Liberals were hoping that their proposed 'ban' on handguns would draw their chief rival into a National Rifle Association-style defence of the right to bear arms.
Instead Harper responded with his own anti-gun package that includes harsher sentencing, and was careful to avoid criticizing the principle of gun control.
© The Canadian Press 2006
(Via Campaign for Cooperation in Space.)
The European Space Preservation Initiative Proactive Strategy:
THE STRATEGY WE ARE IMPLEMENTING WITH THIS INITIATIVE IS COMPOSED OF THREE SEPARATE PATHS, THAT ARE A GUIDANCE RECOMMENDATION TO STATE MEMBERS OF THE EU-EUROPEAN UNION AND OTHER NATIONS IN EUROPE, FOR A FULL PROCESS BAN OF ALL SPACE-BASED WEAPONS; THE CREATION OF AN OUTER SPACE PEACE-KEEPING AGENCY, A NEW GLOBAL SECURITY SYSTEM AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WEAPONS AND WARFARE ECONOMY & INDUSTRY. CONTEMPLATING UNLIMITED PEACEFUL ALTERNATIVES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL HUMANKIND, WITH A LONG LIST OF NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT WILL RISE WITHIN NEW SPACE MARKETS, UNDER AN EXTENSIVE TRANSNATIONAL PEACEFUL COOPERATION DIRECTLY FOCUSED IN APPLYING EXISTING SOLUTIONS TO THE HUMANITARIAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS.
- Peace Action, under International Law:
- Educational Effort:
- United Nations Space Preservation Treaty-Signing Conference Sponsorship & World Peaceful Applications, New Energy and Sustainable Development Alternatives Forum:
...
- Peace Action, under International Law:
- Educational Effort:
- United Nations Space Preservation Treaty-Signing Conference Sponsorship & World Peaceful Applications, New Energy and Sustainable Development Alternatives Forum:
...
CDI: Space Security Update:
Space industry estimated to reach $180 billion
The Space Foundation released the “Space Report: The Guide to Global Space Activity,” which estimates that the space industry now has global revenues of $180 billion. According to the company’s press release, the report divides the space industry into the following categories: “space infrastructure, space products and services, space revenues and government budgets, how space products and services are used, their impact, and the outlook for the future.” The report’s executive summary can be found at http://www.thespacereport.org/executive_summary.pdf
The Space Foundation released the “Space Report: The Guide to Global Space Activity,” which estimates that the space industry now has global revenues of $180 billion. According to the company’s press release, the report divides the space industry into the following categories: “space infrastructure, space products and services, space revenues and government budgets, how space products and services are used, their impact, and the outlook for the future.” The report’s executive summary can be found at http://www.thespacereport.org/executive_summary.pdf
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