``We support the urgent adoption today of all measures possible in order to prevent the deployment of weapons in outer space, rather than waste subsequently huge efforts and resources to have it ``de-weaponized,'' said Russian ambassador Leonid Skotnikov.
But the proposal looks certain to deepen the divisions that have dogged the conference _ the world's main body for negotiating arms-control treaties _ since 1996.
The Russian-Chinese initiative followed by two weeks United States' withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to permit U.S. development of defense systems to guard against strikes by terrorists.
Russia and China are among many nations which have objected to the U.S. withdrawal from the treaty, which they regard as a cornerstone of global efforts to prevent nuclear war.
The conference counts the nuclear test ban treaty and ban on chemical weapons among its achievements. But it has been blocked by differences between the United States, Russia and China over missile defense and other ways to curb nuclear weapons.
In a speech to the conference, U.S. negotiator Eric M. Javits reiterated Washington's resistance to any type of new regime on outer space.
``The United States sees no need for new outer space arms control agreements and opposes the idea of negotiating a new outer space treaty,'' he said.
The United States denies that it is planning to put weapons in space.
Javits said Washington was prepared to have general discussions on the subject. But he rejected any suggestion that these discussions would ultimately lead to a legally binding treaty.
By contrast, China's Hu said that Beijing and Moscow believed that the only way forward was a treaty-based prohibition of the deployment of weapons in outer space.
``This is essential for the maintenance of peace and security,'' Hu said.
The core of the planned treaty should be an agreement not to place in orbit any objects with any kinds of weapons, not to install such weapons on celestial bodies; not to resort to the threat of force against outer space objects; and not to help other countries do likewise.
``All these basic obligations echo the outcry of the international community for the peaceful use of the outer space and nipping the danger of the weaponization of outer space in the bud,'' he said.
In an attempt to breathe new life into the conference, German disarmament ambassador Volker Heinsburg, the current chairman, said that negotiators should urgently address the dangers posed by radiological weapons _ such as the dirty bomb.
``The issue of radiological weapons has long been neglected,'' he said. ``Dirty bombs have demonstrated its topicality.''
He urged the conference to live up to its ``giant responsibility'' by taking the initiative on radiological weapons and avoid the sort of procedural wrangling that has plagued other areas of the negotiation.
Frustration is mounting in the elegant debating chambers at the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva over the ineffectiveness of the disarmament conference.
Gone is the atmosphere of the early 1990s, when the conference was the center of global efforts to eliminate weapons of mass destruction thanks to the cooperation that followed the end of the Cold War and the Gulf War.
``We are like a team of swimmers that has never played together, standing at the edge, discussing tactics and the outcome,'' complained Indian ambassador Rakesh Sood. ``We need to take the plunge and once we do, we will begin to swim because that is all one can do in the pool.''
``We may find different strokes, we may only tread water for some time, but at least we will be in the pool.''
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