China’s space race keeps U.S. on edge

Americans wonder if intentions are peaceful

WASHINGTON – China launched an anti-satellite test in 2007 and an antiballistic missile test in 2010 without alerting the international community beforehand. Now the Beijing government has moved a step closer to its goal of building a space station by 2020: In June, China completed a successful manned docking test, keeping on track to execute the three-step space plan it announced in the 1990s.

As China quickly carves out its place in space, U.S. experts are beginning to question what its moves mean for the United States at a time NASA is undergoing a fundamental shift in its own mission. That’s partly because China’s agenda remains unclear, despite official claims that the program’s intentions are peaceful.

“Peaceful is in the eye of the beholder,” said Dean Cheng, an expert on Chinese political and security affairs at the Heritage Foundation, a policy research centre in Washington. “The Chinese military is thinking of space in ways that would threaten U.S. space assets.”

China’s space program does have civilian applications, and a nation can make significant technological advances from knowledge gained through space exploration.

The United States also remains the international leader in space. But as the U.S. program shifts direction and China’s advances, should the United States be worried about a threat to its security?

According to an April report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressional commission, the answer is: maybe.

“While the overall level of its space technology may not match that of the United States and other spacefaring nations, China’s relative advances are significant,” it said. “Even relative increases in Chinese space capabilities could present challenges for the United States.”

The report, by Cheng and Mark A. Stokes, said China “is emerging as a space power.”

June’s launch involved sending three Chinese astronauts into space to complete the country’s first manual docking of a spacecraft with another space module.

The expedition means that China is one of just three countries to have docked successfully with orbiting stations.

“It does reflect a fair degree of sophistication on China’s part,” said Jonathan Pollack, a China expert at the Brookings Institution, a research centre in Washington.

It also might signal China’s military ambitions. While the Chinese say their program is peaceful, Cheng said the United States couldn’t ignore the 2007 anti-satellite test, in which China destroyed one of its own weather satellites without prior notice.

Despite its advancements, China isn’t in a space race with the United States. Its Asian neighbours might see things differently, however.

“The Chinese aren’t in much of a space race, certainly not with us,” Cheng said.

“They are building their space program on their own timetable. … Both India and Japan are looking at the Chinese very nervously.”