[wavepruner]

There's no point in delaying the inevitable. The Chinese ruling party / dictatorship has been very clear: they will not respect the rights of independent nations like Taiwan and Tibet. Why would they respect a space-treaty, or even sign one?

The only way to prevent the CCP from taking whatever they want is with military a force capable of defending our interests. Fortunately, our relationship with China is good enough that we will only need it as a deterrent.

[sneak]

Violence and militarization is not ever inevitable. As Asimov famously wrote, violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.