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Holly Chik

America is seeing from China a heightened “intent to use counter-space capabilities to threaten space”, the director of the US Defence Intelligence Agency said on Wednesday.
“When you talk national security, China aims to displace the United States as the global leader in space and to exploit space in a way that is to our detriment,” according to Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse.
“It counts on what they perceive as a US over-reliance on space, and it intends to hold that capability at risk,” he said during the annual Aspen Security Forum in a panel discussion on space and national security.
Kruse pointed to China’s advances in directed energy weapons, electronic warfare, anti-satellite capabilities as well as on-orbit technology with military applications.


The Sino-American space rivalry has intensified in recent years amid rapid expansions in satellite networks and associated technology.
Beijing has repeatedly stated a commitment to the peaceful utilisation of space. It contends Washington instigated and has driven the current competition, having first established a space force.
As China aspires to become a “broad-based, fully capable space power, both economically and militarily”, Kruse said, the US should think about how to defend space.
The DIA director described China as “the one country that, more so even than the United States, has a space doctrine, space strategy, and they train and exercise the use of space and counter-space capabilities”.
“Both Russia and China viewed the use of space early on, even ahead of conflict, as important capabilities to deter or to compel behaviours,” Kruse explained. “We just need to be ready.”
Speaking on the same panel in Colorado, General Stephen Whiting, head of the US Space Command, said the combatant command had to “help the joint force be protected against the space-enabled militaries of China and Russia”.

“China is building a kill web, if you will, in space, tailor-built to find, fix, track, target and help provide engagement vectors for over-the-horizon fires against US and allied forces throughout the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility,” said Whiting.
“We have a role there to help defend those US forces from China’s more precise, more lethal and more far-ranging terrestrial army, navy and air force.”
The US Space Command chief also said China should “continue to incorporate responsible behaviours” in space safety.
“We want to have a way to talk to them about space safety as they put more satellites on orbit … so that we can operate effectively and do not have any miscommunication or unintended actions that cause a misunderstanding.”
Kruse believed space might be one of the national security areas that was “OK to talk to China about”, but warned about the dual-use possibilities of space technologies from the commercial sector.
“We, to some degree, should partner with them, or at least understand what they’re doing.”
China’s efforts in space technology, Kruse said, involved “applications and on-orbital regimes for what may be peaceful space-bearing reasons, but then move into potential uses that we could envision going forward”.


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US-China relations

China seeks space supremacy and to exploit it ‘to our detriment’: US intelligence head

A Chinese soldier walks by the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft sitting atop a Long March rocket covered on a launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China on April 24, 2024. Photo: AP

A screenshot of General Stephen Whiting, who took command of the US Space Command in January, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Wednesday.

A BeiDou-like satnav system for the moon? Chinese scientists plot a possible route

Chinese scientists have proposed a satellite navigation system to give around-the-clock services to all parts of the moon. Photo: Shutterstock

China fortifies Tiangong space station after Russian satellite explosion

Astronaut Li Cong works outside Tiangong space station. The Shenzhou-18 crew completed its second spacewalk at 10.51pm Hong Kong time on Wednesday, according to CMSA. Photo: Xinhua

China’s Space Pioneer blames massive rocket-test crash on structural failure

The rocket crashes in hills outside Gongyi in Henan province on Sunday afternoon. Photo: Weibo

The rocket crashed on the ground on its side. Photo: Weibo

The Tianlong-3 has nine engines. Photo: Weibo

Space Pioneer says the rocket was undergoing a static-fire test when it took off and crashed near Gongyi in Henan province on Sunday. Photo: Weibo

US and China talking about how to preserve Neil Armstrong’s footprint on the moon, top scientist says

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin plant the US flag on the moon in 1969. The US is now in talks with China about how to protect it and other traces of the Apollo 11 mission. Photo: AFP

Neil Armstrong is reflected in Buzz Aldrin’s helmet visor in a famous picture taken on the moon. Photo: Neil Armstrong Nasa via AP

China’s Yutu-2 lunar rover is still operating on the far side of the moon. Photo: Xinhua

A footprint left by Buzz Aldrin, the second man to land on the moon. Photo: Reuters

China calls the US a ‘competitor’ in moon race for first time, from a position of strength

Just weeks after China’s Chang’e-6 probe landed on the far side of the moon, the Chinese space agency has acknowledged it is in a moon race with the US. Photo: CNSA

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe, which made news around the world, was the first human craft ever to land on the far side of the moon when it touched down earlier this month. Photo: Reuters

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Beijing’s advances in military applications cited as evidence of its plan to build ‘important capabilities to deter or to compel behaviours’


Beijing’s advances in military applications cited as evidence of its plan to build ‘important capabilities to deter or to compel behaviours’.
