“China’s rapid development of advanced reconnaissance satellites to enable its military to track hostile forces in real-time and guide ballistic missiles has become a key to the modernization of its forces. While the United States used to be unrivaled in this area, China is catching up fast. China’s constellation of satellites is transitioning from the limited ability to collect general strategic information, into a new era in which it will be able to support tactical operations as they happen,” U.K. Journal of Strategic Studies Analysts Eric Hagt and Matthew Durnin said in the report.

    China caused an international uproar in 2007 when its military conducted an anti-satellite missile test that destroyed its FY-1C polar orbit weather satellite. A kinetic kill vehicle, traveling at a speed of 8 kilometers per second, collided with the satellite after it was launched with a multistage solid-fuel missile from a facility located near China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Since then, Chinese officials have consistently asserted its peaceful plans for space and says its growing military spending and prowess are for defensive purposes and modernization of outdated forces.

   "The most immediate and strategically disquieting application [of reconnaissance satellites] is a targeting and tracking capability in support of the anti-ship ballistic missile, which could hit U.S. carrier groups," the U.K. Journal of Strategic Studies report said. “But China’s growing capability in space is not designed to support any single weapon. Instead, it is being developed as a dynamic system, applicable to other long-range platforms. With space as the backbone, China will be able to expand the range of its ability to apply force while preserving its policy of not establishing foreign military bases.”

   Earlier this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued a warning to China that advances by its military’s cyber and anti-satellite warfare technology could challenge the ability of U.S. forces to operate in the Pacific. Gates has released similar statements with concerns regarding the recent unveiling of a Chinese stealth fighter, the expected launch of its first aircraft carriers and territorial disputes in the South China Sea. “China’s capabilities have made it increasingly hard to reconcile the rhetoric of a defensive posture and a more expansive capability,” the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement.           

   Reuters leaked the U.K. Journal of Strategic Studies report on the same day China’s People’s Liberation Army Chief of Staff Gen. Chen Bingde was visiting U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen to lecture the Pentagon about its military spending. “I know the United States is still recovering from the financial crisis, and still has some difficulties in its economy. It would be a better thing if the United States did not spend so much money on the military,” said Chen during a press conference.

  Economic tensions between the United States and China have added to stressful relations between the two world powers as U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama approach a default deadline in negotiations to increase the federal debt ceiling and pay U.S. debts. China has contributed its own stress by increasing defense spending by double-digits in the past 10 years. “This was only a case of China making up for underinvestment. China’s estimated military spending for this year is expected to come in at less than $100 billion, compared with the United States’ about $550 billion,” said Chen.

   “The United States is not going away. Our enduring presence in this region has been important to our allies for decades and will continue to be so. China has some very specific capabilities that are very focused on the United States’ capability. What I have spoken with my counterpart [Chen] about before, and certainly seek to discuss again, is a better understanding of what the strategic intent and the strategic thrust is,” Mullen added. 

   Escalating military satellite tensions could create consequences for China in the commercial sector. China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC), the sole commercial organization authorized by the Chinese government to provide satellites and commercial launch services, is currently making efforts to increase its international presence and is opening U.S. operations out of a Washington D.C.-based office by the end of this summer.

   Executive Vice President and General Legal Counsel of CGWIC Gao Ruofei told Satellite News that China hopes to see breakthroughs after experience more than a decade of what he believes has been unfair treatment by the international commercial satellite industry. “We are not sure if and when the ITAR restriction on launching U.S.-built satellites or satellites with U.S. controlled components to be launched on Long March will be lifted. We welcome the ongoing export control reform promoted by the U.S. government, which is beneficial to the development of the industry and U.S. economy. We would like to see what would happen next,” he said.