What will US do to counter China's space offensive?

By Jed Babbin | April 16,2014

Visiting Chinese air force headquarters on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly told officers "… to speed up air and space integration and sharpen their offensive and defensive capabilities." He urged them to develop an “integrated air and space defense capability” in response to what he called an increasing military use of space by America and other nations.

Xi's statement was historic. Since the Soviet Union launched the first earth satellite in 1957, the major powers have been wrestling with the question of whether space should be used for military purposes.

During the Cold War, there were several treaties and agreements on the peaceful use of space. The so-called “Outer Space Treaty” of 1967 provided that nations would not place weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, in Earth orbit, on the moon or elsewhere in outer space. China signed that treaty but wasn't party to a number of other agreements such as the U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, which provided that neither party would interfere with the other's means of verification of compliance. For the U.S., that method was primarily through satellite reconnaissance......To Read More....

 

My Take - There three things here as I see it. One - would China have been able to create all the advanced military capability - including nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers and their incursions into space - if the Clintons hadn't allowed China access to advanced computer technology? Two - All this is seemingly frightening, but the reality is China has a host of economic problems that are coming home to roost very soon and all things involving space are enormously expensive, which is the same problem Russia has. Three - I know this may seem off the wall, but I keep wondering if these media scares about China and Russia becoming more involved in space isn’t some kind of backroom effort to get NASA more money. Nah....that can’t be true because that would mean there was a conspiracy, and we know there’s no such thing as a conspiracy!