Peace on Earth’ is one phrase strongly associated with the winter holidays in the western world. What’s the reality with peace, though - not just on, but also, beyond, our planet? On December 23, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang expressed deep concern over the US Space Force being a ‘direct threat to outer space peace and security,’ adding that her country was ‘resolutely opposed to it’





China that launched its first crewed mission in 2003 certainly has enough weight in the space community to have concerns over peace beyond Earth. But what caused such claims that apparently had to be voiced at no other time but this? According to what Geng explained in a briefing, America has no regard for the international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, its actions directly ‘undermine global strategic balance and stability, and pose a direct threat to outer space peace and security.’





This statement would probably seem surreal to anyone doing their last-minute Christmas shopping and going about their peaceful holiday routines. What makes it even more ironic is, around the time of the Chinese New Year, in February, the Pentagon accused China of working on technologies that would present a great danger to satellites belonging to America and its allies, to the point of severely damaging or destroying them if a conflict broke out. Russia, too, was seen as this kind of threat.





America motivated its claims by the missile strike against a defunct satellite China performed without any warning in 2007. While the satellite was China’s own, thus letting it do as it saw fit with it, the strike added considerably to the already existing amount of space debris.





Geng, however, wasn’t in the least impressed, saying this was nothing but ‘unfounded counter charges’ that the US used as an excuse, and reminding America of China’s ongoing opposition to militarisation of space.





‘We hope that the international community, especially the major powers concerned, will adopt a cautious and responsible attitude to prevent outer space from becoming a new battlefield and work together to maintain lasting peace and tranquility in outer space,’ Geng said.





The US military established its Space Force to more effectively protect America’s interests in space, with a focus on navigation and communication, not to wage war in space.





But, as US Space Defence Secretary Mark Esper said last week, space ‘has evolved into a war-fighting domain of its own.’ At the same time, the role of space in America’s daily life and economy is becoming more and more significant - for instance, with GlobalPositioning System that has over twenty satellites operated by Space Wing from Schriever Air Force Base (Colorado) to provide navigation services for use by civilians and the military.





China, too, has a network like that of its own, called the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, made up of 42 satellites.







