Propagating 'China space threat' cliché, US is primary driver of space weaponization

Militarizing space. Illustration: Chen Xia/GTOnce again, the US is rehashing the cliché of the "China threat theory" - this time in space. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, said during the annual Aspen Security Forum in a panel discussion on space and national security on Wednesday that the US is seeing from China a heightened "intent to use counter-space capabilities to threaten space."

The US' hyping of "China's space threat" seems to have become one of its routine practices. In February, Stephen Whiting, commander of the US Space Command, claimed that China is growing its military space and counter-space capabilities at a "breathtaking speed," listing China as the "pacing strategic competitor" in the space domain. In April, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also mentioned his China-US "space race" rhetoric, claiming that China is militarizing its space program.

"This is a typical means by the US to manipulate public opinion and perception - first hype up a threat, then develop itself," Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. With the development of China's space technology, the US regards China as a hypothetical enemy, using this to pressure Congress and ask for budget, in a bid to strengthen US' space combat capabilities.

The US excels in presenting a robber's logic in an upright manner. Based on these purposes, the US has continuously propagated the "China space threat theory," slandering and defaming China. This is merely to maintain the US' military hegemony, projecting a Cold War mind-set and zero-sum thinking into space.

China has chosen a different path in space development compared to the US. While the US focuses on space technology for hegemony and arms races, China pursues a more peaceful approach. Former US president Donald Trump explicitly stated that it is not enough to merely have an "American presence in space"; it must have "American dominance." As the space capabilities of other countries continue to strengthen, the US' "space anxiety" rises, leading to an acceleration in space militarization. 

In 2018, the Trump administration officially designated space as a "war-fighting domain." The US has actively advanced its space military strategy by establishing the Space Command, creating the Space Force, and investing heavily in offensive space weapons. It has become the primary driver of space militarization and poses the greatest threat to space security. These actions will inevitably jeopardize the space development plans of countries worldwide, potentially sparking a space arms race and undermining global strategic stability.

In contrast, China firmly opposes the arms race in outer space and is committed to promoting negotiations within the international community to reach legal instruments for space arms control in order to safeguard peace and security in outer space through legal means. In 2008, China and Russia jointly submitted the draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects (PPWT) to the Conference on Disarmament, which is significant in preventing the weaponization of space. However, the US has long passively resisted the space arms control process, causing the relevant efforts of the international community to stagnate. 

China's development of space technology aims to better serve human scientific and technological progress and civilization advancement. China acts out of public interest, whereas the US acts out of self-interest, highlighting a fundamental difference.

Meanwhile, China actively promotes international space cooperation. In June, after China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe returned with rare lunar samples, China announced that it welcomed scientists from around the world to apply to study the lunar samples. However, the US faces obstacles from the Wolf Amendment enacted in 2011 to curb China's space development, which explicitly prohibits space cooperation between China and the US. Foreign media have even called it "an extremely stupid reason." As a hegemonic power in space, the US maliciously suppresses other countries' legitimate space activities, which will ultimately backfire.

Space is global commons that should be a new domain of cooperation and mutual benefit, rather than a battleground for competition among nations. In the future of space exploration, China will continue to adhere to prioritize the peaceful use of outer space, and provide the necessary technical and knowledge support. We hope to see more dialogue and cooperation between countries in the space field. This will ensure that space benefits all of humanity, rather than allowing the US' manipulation of "China threat theory" to open the "Pandora's box" of space weaponization.Source link

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China zooms ahead in space race - Advancement of China’s space programme is serving as a wake-up call for the US

;China Just Won the Space Race Against America...NASA is in Shock!

China Space Station Tian Gong is now complete and China is in a position to dominate the future of space and replace America as the number one space nation in the world. But how did this happen? How did China become a supreme space nation? Let's break it down

A staff member stands before a Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft, on the launch pad encased in a shield at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert in northwest China on Oct. 25, 2023. — AFP

SHORTLY after New Year’s Day in 2019, China landed an unmanned spacecraft on the far side of the moon, where no mission had gone before. United States intelligence officials say they did so quietly, taking their time to verify the rover had landed in one piece and protecting themselves from embarrassment. Hours passed before Beijing announced its historic achievement to the world.

The landing was a wake-up call in Washington. China’s space program was advancing with unexpected speed. Beijing would soon assemble in record time a space station orbiting Earth, catching US officials off guard once again.

US intelligence officials acknowledge that China’s sudden advances had surprised them. They are no longer surprised. The intelligence community now assesses with confidence that China is poised to succeed in landing humans on the moon and constructing a permanent base camp at the lunar south pole by the end of this decade, four intelligence officials said, just as American space agency Nasa has fallen behind its own deadlines to achieve similar milestones.

It is the first time intelligence officials have publicly detailed their concerns that China may win the race to return people to the moon and establish a lunar outpost – an achievement that could set back US plans for human space travel for decades to come.

“It wasn’t too long ago that China said they were intending to land by 2035. So that date keeps getting closer and closer,” Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said in an interview. “I take it very seriously that China, in fact, is in a headlong race to get to the moon.”

Neither country plans to stop at the moon. Both see it as a training ground for missions to Mars in the 2030s, vying to make history by sending humans deep into space and landing them for the first time on another planet.

“Before, it was more of an afterthought – China was nowhere to be seen,” one US intelligence official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. “Today, China gets the lion’s share of intelligence attention.”

A second US intelligence official said “space is very evident to China as a place they need to counter US power.”

“They don’t want to be the space power of the 2020s,” the official added. “They want to be the space power of the 21st century, the way we were in the 20th.”

More than half a century after the US put men on the moon, a space race is on for the new millennium. The first great competition of world powers since the end of the Cold War is spurring a new era of exploration that could send humans on missions far beyond those of the Apollo program 50 years ago.

But if the original space race with the Soviet Union was a sprint, this new competition with China is going to be a marathon.

“The United States will continue to lead the world,” Vice President Kamala Harris, who also serves as director of the National Space Council, said in a statement. “Our unrivaled network of allies and partners will power our deep space exploration, inspire the next generation of explorers, and will ensure that advancements in space benefit all of humanity.”

At Nasa, all of these goals are linked, forming a “ Moon to Mars Architecture” that is breaking modern precedent in Washington for space initiatives with sustained support and funding from consecutive Republican and Democratic administrations.

“Is China a catalyst? It should be. Chinese ambitions for both the moon and Mars should be taken very seriously,” said Dean Cheng, senior adviser to the China program at the US Institute of Peace. “Because from their perspective, it’s not just about planting a flag. There’s a whole freight train worth of baggage and meaning associated with both of these missions.”

“This is to establish presence,” Cheng said, “but then to establish the rules.”

Competition is already inching toward conflict closer to home. Since landing a rover on the far side of the moon, China has more than doubled its number of satellites orbiting Earth, and has launched a space plane that remained in low-Earth orbit for several months before ascending and releasing a projectile, defense officials said. Beijing is already fielding weapons in space, including electronic and cyberspace equipment, but also devices that can stalk and latch on to satellites to disrupt their orbit.

Nelson expressed concern that China may reach its lunar milestones first – a development that could allow Beijing to monopolize resources critical to a sustained presence on the surface, such as frozen water hiding in crevices of permanent darkness, and solar energy from mountain peaks bathed in eternal sunlight.

“If China were to land and begin an outpost there, I think it would be a Sputnik moment for the American people,” said G Scott Hubbard, Nasa’s first Mars czar and former director of the Ames Research Center at Nasa who now chairs SpaceX’s crew safety advisory panel. “They could claim it as their own.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement that “outer space is not a wrestling ground, but an important field for win-win cooperation. The exploration and peaceful uses of outer space is humanity’s common endeavor and should benefit all.”

Senior officials in the Biden administration said that China’s program could be the motivation the US needs to reestablish the wonder and drive of spaceflight that once captured the American imagination. “There are positive aspects to competition,” one official said, adding, “one person’s pressure is another person’s inspiration.”

Beijing surprised Washington once again last May, when its military-run Manned Space Agency held a press conference ostensibly to deliver a routine announcement.

Agency officials were introducing three new Chinese astronauts who would depart for China’s Tiangong Space Station the following day – part of a steady cadence of new crew members being sent into orbit every six months, an impressive achievement in and of itself. Then officials added that Beijing intends to land humans on the moon by 2030, moving their timeline up by years.

China’s Academy of Military Sciences has previously said that space “has already become a new domain of modern military struggle.” Neither the China National Space Administration nor the China Manned Space Agency responded to multiple email requests for comment.

China’s public plan is to use robots to scout the south pole for lunar water in 2026 and begin establishing its base there, to be called the International Lunar Research Station, in 2028. Beijing aims to complete a new Long March 10 rocket system for its crewed missions by 2027.

US intelligence officials say it would be “high risk” for the Chinese to attempt their first human landing at the south pole, but also believe Beijing will try to distinguish their first landing from Apollo.

“If there is a prestige goal,” one intelligence official said, “it is the south pole of the moon.” — TNS

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