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© Michael Stonecypher/US Air Force/Getty ImagesTechnicians in protective suits conduct post-landing checks on the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Washington uses hyped-up foreign threats as a pretext for military expansion, Beijing's defense spokesman has said...

The United States is leading a dangerous drive to militarize space, the Chinese military has said, arguing that the Pentagon represents the greatest threat to peace and security on the final frontier.

Asked to respond to recent warnings by US officials about Beijing's growing arsenal of "anti-satellite weapons," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang told reporters that it was Washington, not the People's Republic, that was seeking to transform space into a future battlefield:
"The United States uses the so-called threats from other countries as an excuse to expand its military power, and China firmly opposes this. As we all know, the United States defines space as a 'combat territory,' develops and deploys offensive space weapons... and even maliciously tracks and dangerously approaches other countries' spacecraft, creating the risk of collisions with space objects.

"This has become the biggest driver of militarization and battlefieldization of space, and the biggest threat to space security."
Zhang was apparently responding to comments by US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who has repeatedly stressed the alleged threat posed by Beijing as its military continues to develop and modernize.

Earlier this month, the official warned that Washington was "out of time" to keep pace with Chinese forces, deeming a future war all but inevitable.
"We can no longer regard conflict as a distant possibility or a future problem that we might have to confront. The risk of conflict is here now and that risk will increase with time."
In a memo issued last September to the US Space Force - the Pentagon's newest branch - Kendall also sounded the alarm about potential Chinese incursions into space, saying:
"Beijing is dramatically expanding its nuclear force and military space capabilities. We cannot sustain deterrence by standing still."
In recent weeks US officials and lawmakers have helped to fuel media reports that Russia similarly intends to deploy military hardware into orbit. However, Moscow has dismissed the charge outright, with President Vladimir Putin calling the claim "unfounded" during a national address on Thursday. The Kremlin leader added that such allegations were merely a US attempt to drag Russia into arms control negotiations that would exclusively benefit Washington.