UN talks on space peace treaty fail to reach consensus

GENEVA: United Nations-backed talks to prevent an arms race in outer space ended without agreement on Friday, delivering another blow to global disarmament diplomacy. Twenty-five nations — including major space-faring powers such as China, Russia and the US — held two weeks of negotiations that aimed to lay foundations for a treaty ensuring peace in space.

Diplomats meeting within the so-called Group of Governmental Experts were not able to reach consensus on a set of recommendations, said Brazil’s ambassador to the Conference on Disa­rmament, Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota, who led the talks.

“We could not reach convergence,” Patriota told reporters, adding that the goal may have been “too ambitious”.

“We are working on very difficult grounds because of the sensitivities around these issues,” he further said. Space disarmament diplomacy has been deadlocked for more than a decade.

Russia and China have backed treaty language that seeks to prevent the deployment of certain types of military hardware in space. The US, even before the election of President Donald Trump, has typically rejected that approach on grounds that it is extremely difficult to verify the military capabilities of hardware deployed in space.