"When any country is preparing a military confrontation with China in outer space, we have to pay close attention to and prepare for what would happen," said Teng Jianqun, chief editor of World Military Review, a Chinese magazine.

Teng was speaking to the paper on US plans for a national anti-missile defense system, which the new administration in Washington D.C. has said it will go ahead with in the face of opposition from China and Russia as well as most European countries.

He said the political implications of the planned deployment of the system would be to contain China and Russia, "peer competitors" of the United States.

Beijing has vehemently voiced its opposition to the American anti-missile plans in recent months, arguing they would lead to a new global arms race.

"The consequence will be a dangerous arms race in space," said Yao Yunzhu, an official with the Chinese armed forces' academy of military science, quoted by China Daily.

Yao also criticized a five-day military exercise held in Colorado Springs last month, which was set in 2017 and had China as the "Red Team," or assumed enemy.

"The recent US war games, simulating military confrontations in outer space, signal US attempts to dominate space operations and the beginning of the militarization of space," the paper said, quoting Yao.

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