Russia, China challenge US with proposal to ban space weapons

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
China and Russia challenged the United States at a disarmament debate Tuesday by formally presenting a plan to ban weapons in space - a proposal that Washington has labeled a diplomatic ploy by the two nations to gain a military advantage. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament that "weapons deployment in space by one state" - a reference to the US - could cause a "new spiral in the arms race both in space and on earth." Washington rejects the plan because it feels it is only directed at US military technology and allows China and Russia to fire ground-based missiles into space or use satellites as weapons of war.