US Sees China’s Space Threat Growing at ‘Breathtaking Pace’

(Bloomberg) — China is growing its military capabilities in space at a “breathtaking pace” to counter the American satellites in orbit and improve its ability to monitor and target forces on Earth, according to the head of the US Space Command.

America’s top strategic challenger is seeking to develop advanced space weaponry and making advances in satellite meteorology, human spaceflight and robotic space exploration, General Stephen Whiting said during a hearing Thursday of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Whiting’s warnings, delivered during a hearing on future military budgeting priorities, highlight Washington’s focus on China as its biggest biggest economic and security threat, a geopolitical competition that ramped up under former President Donald Trump and has been sustained by Joe Biden’s administration.

China’s satellite fleet has more than tripled since 2018 to 359 systems, Whiting said in his prepared remarks, adding that some of its newly deployed satellites may be able to function as weapons that can disrupt the orbit of US assets. Beijing is also developing “hypersonic glide vehicles” other advanced space weaponry to overcome traditional missile warning and defense systems, he said.

China “is growing its military space and counterspace capabilities at breathtaking pace to deny American and allied space capabilities when they so choose,” he said.

Most concerning about China’s accelerated emphasis on space weapons, Whiting said, “is the way China has clinically studied us and our dependency on space” and is “rapidly building” programs to threaten the US satellite architecture.

China’s Defense Ministry hit back at the comments, with spokesman Zhang Xiaogang saying at a regular press briefing in Beijing that “the US side is using so-called threats from other nations as an excuse to expand its own military power.”

“We urge the US to stop disseminating false information and stop the arms race in the space,” he said.

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