China Calls on the US to Stop Preparing for War in Space

The Chinese government has called on the United States to “stop preparing for war” in space. The statement came after the US Space Force confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons into orbit.

Beijing and Washington are the world’s foremost geopolitical rivals and have long sought to expand their interests — and strategic footprint — beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

The US Space Force said on Monday (14/9) local time that it had deployed “space control weapons in orbit capable of withstanding… threatening adversary actions”, without providing specific details.

China’s Foreign Ministry condemned the move, warning against “the weaponisation of space, turning it into a battlefield, and an arms race there”.

“We urge the US side to stop expanding its military capabilities and preparing for war in space,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun at a press conference, as reported by AFP on Tuesday (15/9/2026).

The US Space Force specifically named China as a threat in its announcement, stating that Beijing “is developing and operating space and counterspace capabilities as part of its military modernisation strategy”.

The US report also mentioned Russia, another geopolitical rival, which it said “believes that space supremacy will be a decisive factor in future conflicts”.

The militarisation of space has existed since the space race itself — not long after the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into orbit in 1957, Washington and Moscow began exploring ways to weaponise and destroy such spacecraft.