MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) - Russia and China discussed space security, primarily steps to prevent an arms race in space, during interagency consultations in Beijing on February 1, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"The parties shared their assessments on the situation in this field. They underscored the need for continuing close cooperation and active joint efforts to prevent an arms race in space and space weaponization," it said.
The parties spoke in favor of launching negotiations as soon as possible on a multilateral binding instrument based on the Russian-Chinese draft treaty on preventing the deployment of weapons in space and the use of force or the threat of force in relation to space objects, it said.
"They acknowledged the relevance of the international initiative/political commitment not to deploy weapons in space first," the ministry said.
The two countries previously held interagency consultations on biological security on January 31, it said.
"They shared their assessments on threats to biological security. In this context, they attached primary importance to U.S. military biological activities and reinforcing the convention on the prohibition of biological and toxin weapons," it said.