China has expressed its deep concern over the recent large-scale simulated space training exercise carried out by the US military forces, saying it will lead to a new arms race into outer space.

The US space training exercise has again demonstrated that using outer space as a weapon has become an urgent issue to be dealt with, said Sun Yuxi, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman at a regular press conference Tuesday.

Taking weapons to outer space will damage the efforts of relevant countries to use space for peaceful ends, lead to new rounds of the arms race in space, and finally will harm world peace and security, said the spokesman.

China has always insisted using outer space for peaceful ends and opposes the arms race in space. Sun said the international community should act through various channels, including the disarmament negotiations in Geneva, to produce a legal document to stop the arms race in space.

(People??s Daily 02/07/2001)