Chinese Militarization of Space

[Gus Van Horn blog]

By Gus Van Horn from Gus Van Horn,cross-posted by MetaBlog

On the heels of last week's news reports (HT: Resident Egoist) that China successfully attacked and destroyed a satellite in outer space comes a warning of a possible "Space Pearl Harbor" in FrontPage Magazine. China hopes to achieve the capability of attacking American interests in space by the same means the Moslems are waging war against the United States now: By acting in a threatening manner and then telling our weak-willed leaders what they want to hear, namely that it's time to hold "talks".

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. is right on the money in his detailed discussion of this topic.

Breaking nearly two weeks of silence, Communist China has now confirmed that it did indeed successfully attack and destroy an aging weather satellite more than 500 miles above the earth. As U.S. intelligence revealed last week, the destructive intercept was performed by a kinetic-kill vehicle (KKV) launched onboard a medium-range ballistic missile.

In making this acknowledgement, however, the Foreign Minister preposterously declared that "the test was not targeted against any country and does not pose a threat to any country." [such a capability in the hands of a dictatorship is, by its nature, a threat to any civilized nation. --ed] The mendacity of this statement is as transparent as Beijing's military activities in the area of space control and power projection, which are cloaked in secrecy: Communist China intends to be able to deny the United States the ability to utilize outer space for vital national security, and perhaps even economic purposes.

The sudden, indisputable nature of this insight has precipitated confusion bordering on panic in Washington and other allied capitals. One predictable reaction has been to encourage a renewed push by so-called "arms-control" advocates to prohibit the "militarization of space." According to the New York Times, such an outcome was intended by Beijing. It cites Xu Guangyu, a former Chinese Army officer and an official at the government-run China Arms Control and Disarmament Association: "What China is saying is, 'Let's sit down and talk.' There is a trend toward weaponization of space that no one, especially China, wants to see."

Were the United States to fall for this gambit, it would face the worst of both worlds -- at least two adversaries (Russia and China) known to have demonstrated ASAT capabilities and a wholly unverifiable prohibition on such weapons, one whose practical effect would be only to foreclose to this country (and others who adhere to their treaty obligations) capabilities essential to space control. [some bold added]

Read it all and remember this: If our leaders fail to act, as they almost certainly will, and China makes good on this threat, it will not be new-fangled technology that "left us open to attack", but old-fashioned cowardice.

The only valid premise of negotiations between governments is that both are civilized (i.e., respect individual rights). To engage in talks with an armed adversary so blatantly interested in being able to make credible threats is to engage in wishful thinking and to open oneself up to an all but inevitable betrayal.

-- CAV

http://ObjectivismOnline.com/blog/archives/002240.html

[DavidV]

Is it really conceivable that the U.S. would cancel its own space programs to appease the Chinese? I doubt it. Such systems have been in development since the 60's, and from what I can tell, a working system was delivered in 2000, but shelved because there are no space-based weapons to destroy and no one found its limited functionality worthwhile. The ironic thing may be that it will take significant advances in U.S. satellite technology before the Chinese are able to copy enough of it to make theirs a real threat.

[bobsponge]

Just what we need-- another defense spending war between the 'supposed' free world and the supposed red menace. Funded by the sweat and toil of the taxpayers.

Though I am glad that private industry like Virgin Galactic are starting up-- hopefully they can find a good way to make orbit profitable, and teach the bureaucrats a few good harsh lessons.

I hope some private company gets to the moon and claims it as their own property. More power to them!

[DarkWaters]

Does anyone forsee any reason why the Chinese Government would want to actually initiate a military conflict with the United States? The economic, military and civilian costs for both nations would be enormous.

I am aware of the comments from the Hawkish General Zhu Chengu made in 2005 but he does not seem to be representative of the Chinese Government.

There also seems to be some books on the subject.

Of course, I am not comfortable with any non-Capitalist nation gaining military advantages over the United States.

Edited January 31, 2007 by DarkWaters

[DavidV]

Does anyone foresee any reason why the Chinese Government would want to actually initiate a military conflict with the United States? The economic, military and civilian costs for both nations would be enormous.

In the short run, no, of course not. But its conceivable that sometime in the near future, the Communist Party will find itself under siege from a democratic movement, and will look desperately for a distraction. If the lives or privileged status of Communist party officials was threatened, do you think they would be willing to throw away the lives of billions of people to stay in power? The twentieth century has taught that lesson all too well.