Although it prohibits the establishment of military bases, testing weapons and performing military maneuvers on celestial bodies, the treaty does not expressly prohibit all military activities in space, nor the establishment of military space forces or the placement of conventional weapons in space. Taking into account United Nations General Assembly resolution 110 (II) of 3 November 1947, which condemned propaganda intended or likely to provoke or encourage any threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression, and considering that the aforementioned resolution applies to outer space,. The Chinese ambassador mentioned that the weaponization of space was “by no means a remote issue; instead, the “danger” was imminent and the most urgent issue. The United States reiterated its usual position that there is no arms race in outer space and no intention to turn it into an arms race and, consequently, there is no need for a new instrument to address the issue.
The Outer Space Treaty was considered by the Legal Subcommittee in 1966 and the General Assembly reached agreement later that year (resolution 2222 (XXI)). On May 6 and July 8, the United States launched two satellites into space to detect and track missile flights. At the 2002 session of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS) remained one of the controversial issues that prevented the Conference on Disarmament from reaching agreement on a programme of work. These were reconciled during several months of negotiation in the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and the resulting document was approved by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 and 15 April, the 55th meeting of the Subcommittee Legal Committee on Peaceful Rights Uses of Outer Space took place in Vienna.
This report criticizes unidentified states for seeking the “unilateral formation of a global missile defense system and the “militarization of outer space”. Between 1959 and 1962, Western nations made proposals to the United Nations (UN) to prohibit states from orbiting and placing weapons of mass destruction in outer space. While the part about maritime law is not necessarily true, it turns out that there is actually an international law that discusses territorial claims in outer space. The group of governmental experts responsible for preparing the study concluded that, since the adoption of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, “legal norms may need to be further developed, where appropriate, to address new developments in space technology and the growing universal interest in its application.
This measure contradicted years of Chinese declarations calling for a ban on weapons in space in the Conference on Disarmament. The 1979 Moon Treaty emphasized that the moon and other celestial bodies should be governed by international law, stating that the moon and other celestial bodies should be used only for peaceful purposes; however, this treaty was not ratified by any of the major space-traveling countries. In June 1966, the United States and the Soviet Union submitted draft treaties on the uses of space to the United Nations. From 2 to 13 February, the fifty-second session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was held in Vienna.
