A rocket carrying the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, commonly referred to as the "space plane," took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The space craft will significantly increase US fighting power and shows that the country has ambitions to "reach space and threaten us," Kornukov argued. "The US has completely spit on calls from Russia and the world to abandon plans for the deployment of weapons in space," he said.

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"As a superpower, the US has been calling for nuclear disarmament all these years and urged other countries to be more responsible for world peace and safety," Zhao said. "But in the meantime, its development of the space plane may lead to an arms race in space." Zhai Dequan, deputy secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the impact of the space plane "may not be serious enough to trigger an arms race in space", but it has demonstrated US resolve to take a leading position in it.