The Indian Government believes that a continuation of tests like the one carried out by China on January 11 — when it destroyed one of its own satellites with a ballistic missile — or the deployment of weapons can undermine international consensus on peaceful use of outer space.Replying to J M Aaron Rashid and Avtar Singh Bhadana during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha today, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, “This consensus can be undermined by continuation of such testing or deployment of weapons in outer space.” Referring to the Chinese test, Mukherjee said India had expressed its long-standing “traditional views” against weaponisation of outer space. India, he maintained, would continue to engage with multilateral efforts to keep space weapon-free.
