China and the importance of safeguarding peaceful use of outer space

To the great surprise of other nations, China on Monday spoke of the importance of safeguarding the peaceful use of outer space and preventing the weaponisation of and an arms race in outer space, saying that "the outer space is the common wealth of mankind as the global public space."

The statement came as Wang Qun, the Chinese ambassador for disarmament affairs, was taking the floor at the thematic debate on outer space at the First Committee of the UN General Assembly.

The First Committee is in charge of disarmament and international security.

"The outer space is the common wealth of mankind as the global public space," Wang said. "The permanent peace of outer space is correlated to all nations' security, development and prosperity."

"Meanwhile, with the growing reliance of mankind on outer space, the risk of the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space are on rise, and the uncertainties concerning outer space security are accumulating as well," he said.

"Safeguarding the peaceful use of outer space and preventing the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space are common interest and obligations of all countries."

In responding to the growing challenge for security in outer space, the international community also witnessed common grounds on opposing to the weaponization of outer space and advertising the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, he said.

The General Assembly, for consecutive years, adopted " Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space" resolution by overwhelming majority of votes, calling for negotiations on an international legally-binding instrument on the prevention of an arms race in outer space at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

"The mankind has marched into the 6th decade of outer space exploitation, and the manned space flight has made a history of 50 years," Wang said.

"Recently, China has successfully launched the Tiangong-1 ( Heavenly Palace 1) as a target spacecraft for rendezvous and docking experiment, which opens a new era of China's manned space flight, and also reflects that China is committed itself to the honorable objective of promoting the peaceful exploration and utilization of the outer space, maintaining peace and bringing benefit to mankind."

The world will watch and wait to see if this message is taken on board by all of China's leaders and politicians. Time will tell.