2026-01-02 16:25
publication
2026-01-02 16:25
China's representative warned at the UN Security Council that the rapid expansion of its constellation of internet satellites, such as SpaceX's Starlink, poses serious security challenges, the South China Morning Post reported on Friday. Beijing's representative pointed to the risk of collision and their use for military purposes.
A country's uncontrolled proliferation of commercial satellite constellations in the absence of effective regulation has led to clear security challenges, a Chinese diplomat said at an informal meeting initiated by Russia.
As the daily reveals, an unnamed representative of Beijing drew attention to incidents from 2021 when Starlink satellites came dangerously close to the Chinese space station. He warned that such systems “crowd frequency-orbital resources,” which significantly increases the risk of collisions in orbit.
In his statement, the diplomat also assessed that commercial satellites are increasingly used for reconnaissance and battlefield communications, which 'increases the risk of an arms race in space'. He called for compliance with the Outer Space Treaty, emphasizing that countries are responsible for the actions of their companies if they interfere in the internal affairs of other countries or are used by terrorists and separatists.
The Starlink network, built by Elon Musk's company, currently has approximately 10,000 users. satellites, and ultimately there will be over 40,000 of them. China is developing its own competing mega-constellations to provide Internet access, including Qianfan and Guowang. “SCMP” points out that the speech at the UN took place shortly after the Starlink representative accused the Chinese side of lack of coordination, which was supposed to lead to the risk of a collision with the new Chinese satellite.
Krzysztof Pawliszak (PAP)
krp/ kar/
