China has accussed President Donald Trump of “turning space into a warzone” with the development of the United States’s new Golden Dome for America missile defence programme. Similar to the Israeli Iron Dome system, the ambitious new ballistic missile protection screen is aimed at protecting the entire continental United States.
Speaking on Tuesday from the Oval Office, President Trump said he expects the system will be “fully operational before the end of my term”, which ends in 2029, and have the capability of intercepting missiles “even if they are launched from space”. But in an angry rebuke, Beijing has said Washington’s plans will “exacerbate the risk of turning outer space into a battlefield”.
Fox News reports Chinese Foreign Minister Mao Ning said the Golden Dome has a “strong offensive nature and violates the principle of peaceful use in the Outer Space Treaty”.
The fuming official added: “The project will heighten the risk of turning space into a war zone and creating a space arms race, and shake the international security and arms control system, we urge the US to give up developing and deploying global anti-missile system.
“China is gravely concerned about this. We urge the US to give up developing and deploying the global anti-missile system at an early date and take concrete actions to enhance strategic mutual trust between major countries and safeguard global strategic stability.”
China, Russia and the United States have been racing to secure dominance in the orbit around Earth, with Russia launching a suspected ‘satellite killer’ device shortly before its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that just the space-based components of the Golden Dome could cost as much as £400 billion over the next 20 years. President Trump has requested an initial £18 billion for the program in his proposed tax break bill now moving through Congress.
The Pentagon has warned for years that the newest missiles developed by China and Russia are so advanced that updated countermeasures are necessary.
Golden Dome’s added satellites and interceptors – where the bulk of the program’s cost is – would be focused on stopping those advanced missiles early on or in the middle of their flight.
The space-based weapons envisioned for Golden Dome “represent new and emerging requirements for missions that have never before been accomplished by military space organizations,” General Chance Saltzman, head of the US Space Force, told lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday.
Last year, the US said Russia was developing a space-based nuclear weapon that could loiter in space for long durations, then release a burst that would take out satellites around it.
