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| Proletarian issue 16 (February 2007) |
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| Chinese space missile challenges US space supremacy |
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On 11 January, according to the US National Security Council, the Peoples’ Republic of China fired a medium-range ballistic missile into space, blowing up one of its old weather satellites. At the time of going to press, China has neither confirmed nor denied the story.
Regardless of the accuracy of the US claims, it seems to us that, despite all the hysteria of the imperialists, it is both logical and understandable for China to develop weapons capabilities beyond the Earth’s surface. China has called many times for the US to sign a treaty barring the use of weapons in space, but these calls have consistently been ignored by the US, which is intent on developing new weapons with which to threaten the rest of the world.
It is universally known that US imperialism has weapons of mass destruction and space technology. Furthermore, the US has a track record of using such weapons for the sake of economic and political gain. The countries most open to attack by imperialist armies are those that are militarily weak. This is the lesson of Afghanistan and Iraq, and it has been learnt well by countries like the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea and Iran.
The US and its allies are intent on using space technology to gain an advantage over those countries that have been arming themselves against the US threat. Now China, which has suffered years of nuclear threats, plus satellite and other hi-tech spying abuse, from the US, may have developed the technology to bring down spy satellites and seriously damage the credibility of the so-called ‘Star Wars’ missile shield that has been revived by the present US regime.
In Britain, the Labour government has joined in the hypocritical hysteria over the alleged incident, claiming to be worried about ‘space debris’. Needless to say, this is not a concern that they have ever shown in relation to the hundreds of spy satellites orbiting the planet as a result of US imperialism’s rabid obsession with watching and listening to everyone else. Did the British government show ‘concern’ over 20 years ago when the US, as part of the original ‘Star Wars’ programme, fired ballistic missiles at old satellites?
We absolutely support the calls of the Chinese government for a universal ban on the use of weapons in space, just as we support the calls for universal nuclear (and chemical and biological) disarmament. However, the worst situation is one where the imperialist countries have all these weapons (in huge supply) and the oppressed countries do not, thereby giving the imperialist countries a means of bullying the rest of the world into submission.
While the imperialist countries refuse to respond to the calls for nuclear, chemical, biological and space disarmament, we must support the right of other countries to defend themselves from military blackmail and to develop the same weaponry that the imperialists have.
The abundant imperialist rage in relation to the (alleged) Chinese tests is not a result of environmental or humanitarian concerns; rather it reflects the frustration of the imperialists at the scuppering of their plans to use space weaponry to assist them in achieving economic and political domination over the planet.
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