<span style="color: #222222;">China has accused the US of ignoring its obligations under the Outer Space treaty as it alleged that Starlink satellites launched by US billionaire Elon Musk's firm SpaceX had two close encounters this year with its Space Station in orbit. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that China has complained to the UN Secretary-General on this matter. He said in Beijing that the Chinese space station was forced to avoid collisions with satellites launched by Musk's Starlink Internet Services project adding that under the treaty, the parties should bear the international responsibility for the activities in outer space whether by governmental or non-governmental entities. The incidents occurred on July 1 and October 21, according to a document submitted by China this month to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, according to media reports. These dangerously close space encounters have added to the tensions between the U.S. and China. Chinese spokesperson accused the US of ignoring its obligations under the treaty posing a severe threat to the astronauts in orbit and urged Washington to take measures to prevent such close encounters from happening again and "act in a responsible manner".<br />'' <br />'' Experts say that the recent close encounters of SpaceX satellites with China's space station show the risks of collisions in an overcrowded space with thousands of satellites and proliferating space debris. According to media reports, there are an estimated 30,000 satellites and other space debris that are orbiting Earth. SpaceX has already launched almost 1,900 satellites as part of the Starlink network and plans to deploy thousands more. It has said that its Starlink satellites are equipped with autonomous orbit-changing features to avoid collisions and that other spacecraft do not need to manoeuvre in case of an encounter, according to media reports. In March, SpaceX signed an agreement with US space agency NASA promising to steer Starlink satellites out of the way if they got too close to the ISS or other Nasa spacecraft. Apart from SpaceX, other commercial companies have also announced plans to further populate space with their own internet service constellations, including Amazon, OneWeb, and Telstar.<br />''<br />''Since its launch on April 29 this year, China has sent two batches of three astronauts to build the under-construction Chinese Space Station (CSS) which was expected to be ready by next year. This is China's most prestigious and strategically important space project as the low orbit space station would be the country's eye in the sky, providing round a clock bird's-eye view on the rest of the world. After completion, China will be the only country to own a space station while the aging International Space Station (ISS) of Russia is a collaborative project of several countries. CSS is expected to be a competitor to the ISS and perhaps may become a sole space station to remain in orbit once the ISS goes out of service</span>