Congress: Russia, China Represent Potential Threat to U.S in Space

The World has returned to an era of great power competition and race in which the United States, Russia, and China are competing for the future of the international order.

As part of that competition, Russia and China are not only modernizing their military technology, but also developing new and disruptive capabilities such as counter space and offensive cyber.

Thus, the United States aims to find a way to effectively address this challenge in a way that deters potential adversaries and maintains strategic stability.

In this regard, American Congress has warned of threats Russia and China pose to the United States in space, affirming that these two countries have taken advantage of the US weakness.

This warning came as a measure after China had successfully launched the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft with three astronauts on board to the Chinese space station, which is currently being built, rendering China the third country in the world to send humans into space.

It came after Russia announced in May 2021 that it would be withdrawing from the International Space Station in 2025, and establish and manage its own space station, far from the International Space Station.

The Congressional Research Service's representatives stated that Russia and China represent a potential threat to the United States in space, according to a new report released by the US Congress.

The latest report revealed that "the adversaries of the United States studied theories of conducting war and focused on space systems as a weakness of the United States."

On the other hand, the Russian Space Agency had accused Washington of setting the grounds for the control of other planets, especially as it considers space "a global commons."

Lately, the Head of the Russian Space Agency, Dmitry Rogozin, has indicated that Moscow will withdraw from the International Space Station in 2025 if Washington does not lift the sanctions it imposed on the latter's space sector, which impede the launching of Russian satellites.