China Shows Assertiveness in Weapons Testhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/20/world/asia/20china.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ei=5087%0A&em&en=60c728996a44efdc&ex=1169442000BEIJING, Jan. 19 Chinas apparent success in destroying one of its
own orbiting satellites with a ballistic missile signals that its
rising military intends to contest American supremacy in space, a realm
many here consider increasingly crucial to national security.
The test of an antisatellite weapon last week, which Beijing declined
to confirm or deny Friday despite widespread news coverage and
diplomatic inquiries, was perceived by East Asia experts as Chinas
most provocative military action since it testfired missiles off the
coast of Taiwan more than a decade ago.
Unlike in the Taiwan exercise, the message this time was directed mainly at the United States, the sole superpower in space.
With lengthy white papers, energetic diplomacy and generous aid
policies, Chinese officials have taken pains in recent years to present
their country as a new kind of global power that, unlike the United
States, has only good will toward other nations.
But some
analysts say the test shows that the reality is more complex. China has
surging national wealth, legitimate security concerns and an opaque
military bureaucracy that may belie the governments promise of a
peaceful rise.
This is the other face of China, the hard
power side that they usually keep well hidden, said Chong-Pin Lin, an
expert on Chinas military in Taiwan. They talk more about peace and
diplomacy, but the push to develop lethal, high-tech capabilities has
not slowed down at all.
Japan, South Korea and Australia are
among the countries in the region that pressed China to explain the
test, which if real would make it the third power, after the United
States and the Soviet Union, to shoot down an object in space.
Chinas Foreign and Defense Ministries declined to comment on reports
of the test, which were based on United States intelligence data. Liu
Jianchao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, would say only that China
opposed using weapons in space. China will not participate in any kind
of arms race in outer space, he told Reuters.
Chinas silence
on the test underscores how much its rapidly modernizing military
perhaps especially the Second Artillery forces, in charge of its
ballistic missile program remains isolated and secretive, answering
only to President Hu Jintao, who heads the military as well as the ruling Communist Party.
Having a weapon that can disable or destroy satellites is considered a
component of Chinas unofficial doctrine of asymmetrical warfare.
Chinas army strategists have written that the military intends to use
relatively inexpensive but highly disruptive technologies to impede the
better-equipped and better-trained American forces in the event of an
armed conflict over Taiwan, for example.
The Pentagon makes
extensive use of satellites for military communications, intelligence
and missile guidance, and some Chinese experts have argued that
damaging its space-based satellite infrastructure could hobble American
forces.
Yet while Chinas research and development of such
weapons has been well known, the apparent decision to test-fire an
antisatellite weapon came as a surprise to many analysts.
If
this is fully corroborated, it is a very significant event that is
likely to recast relations between the United States and China, said
Allan Behm, a former official in Australias Defense Ministry. This
was a very sophisticated thing to do, and the willingness to do it
means that were seeing a different level of threat.
Chinas
military expenditures have been growing at nearly a double-digit pace,
even after adjusting for inflation, for 15 years. China has begun to
deploy sophisticated submarines, aircraft and antiship missiles that
the Pentagon says could have offensive uses.
Yet with a few
notable exceptions, Beijing has avoided sharp provocations that could
prompt the United States or Japan to focus more on what some officials
in each country regard as a potential threat.
Chinese leaders
emphasize that they are preoccupied with domestic challenges and intend
to focus their energy and resources on economic development, a policy
they say depends heavily on cross-border investment, open trade and
friendly foreign relations.
The country has denied that it
intends to develop space weapons and sharply criticized the United
States for experimenting with a space-based missile defense system. It
forged a coalition of Asian countries to jointly develop peaceful
space-based technologies.