China's foreign minister warned on Wednesday that there was a "looming danger" of an arms race in outer space, urging countries not to deploy missile defence systems that could undermine global security.

"The practice of seeking absolute strategic advantage should be abandoned," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the Conference on Disarmament.

"Countries should neither develop missile defence systems that undermine global strategic security nor deploy weapons in outer space," he added.

US President Barack Obama has been reviewing a planned missile defence shield championed by his predecessor, which remains a major source of tension with Russia.

The Obama administration has not backed down from the shield, which would partly be based in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russia's air force commander said on Monday that Moscow was developing new missiles to counter space based missile systems that could soon be deployed by the US.

Washington insists its shield plan is not directed against Russia but threats from "rogue states" such as Iran.

"Outer space is now facing the looming danger of weaponisation," said Yang.

"Credible and effective multilateral measures must be taken to forestall the weaponisation and arms race in outer space," he added, calling such steps of "high strategic significance."