China and Russia, America’s top two global rivals are collaborating quite closely on anti-US and anti-Western ground. Both are increasingly pressuring the United States on space developments in several different ways.
Attacking America Before the UN
China, in particular, has gone to the UN in order to accuse America of failure to comply with the UN space treaty.
As part of its complaint, the Chinese government attacked billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, as two of his Starlink satellites nearly crashed into China’s new space station called Tiangong.
The Chinese government filed the complained with the UN on December 6, the Daily Mail reported.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry made the accusations that America failed to account for the safety of the three crew members of the Chinese space station.
In his comments on Tuesday, the deputy head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, declared the United States must assume responsibility and make sure any potential collisions between Starlink satellites and other objects in space can be avoided.
He argued this is an obligation assumed by the signatories of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which is designed to guarantee the safety of astronauts and the peaceful use of space.
Beijing says it complained to the UN about near misses its space station allegedly had with @SpaceX satellites, a sign that tensions are rising in the space race between China and the U.S. https://t.co/vAtPQSIjgy pic.twitter.com/YrjHrarpa7
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) December 28, 2021
China tells UN its space station EVADED two collisions with Musk's Starlink pic.twitter.com/ldRnfCtq2Y
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) December 28, 2021
Top Secret Satellite Killer Missile
Meanwhile, America’s other greatest geopolitical rival, Russia, deployed for the first time a secret “Star Wars” missile known as S-550.
Its purpose is to shoot down satellites, weapons carrying nuclear payloads, or other objects in the low orbit, several hundred miles above the earth’s surface.
Last month, Russia blew up one of its old spy satellites. This led the US to react strongly, and caused a boost of the already spiking tensions between the government of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the US-led NATO alliance, over the latter’s threats to invade Western ally Ukraine.
It is believed the explosion of the defunct satellite was precisely a successful test of the new S-550 missile system.
The report of the Russian government-run news agency cited a source from the Russian Cabinet as saying the Star Wars missile was successful in completing its trials.
The unnamed source stated the top-secret Russian missile is superior to similar capabilities of the Western countries and China because it represents an “absolutely unrivaled” system for mobile strategic missile defense.
In November, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told reporters Putin himself insisted on the fast-tracking of the deployment of the Star Wars missile.
The report claimed, together with the recently introduced Russian missiles – S-500 Prometheus, S-400 Triumf, and S-350 Vityaz, the new missile is going to offer a total cover of “the Russian sky” from potential attacks.
Some reports in the Russian press suggested the Star Wars missile is, in fact, the same weapon as the top-secret project for a satellite killer missile, known previously as Nudol.
–#Russia’s S-550 missile system enters service
-It is capable of shooting down targets in space
-Named Star Wars
-Can target low-orbit satellites & hypersonic weapons
-It’s not clear if recent shooting down of satellite was demonstration of same syst#IndianArmy #IndianAirForce pic.twitter.com/Dm5UbqEZZ9— Insightful Geopolitics (@InsightGL) December 29, 2021
Russia has put an ultra-secret satellite-destroying ‘star wars’ missile into active service.#pakistan, #china,#usa,#uk, #india, #france, #germany,#nepal, #Saudi. pic.twitter.com/mzXd67PQ1u
— Latest News Network (@LatestNewsNetw1) December 29, 2021
