Taking China seriously – a decade too late

The Bush administration has announced it has suspended plans to develop joint space ventures with China. The suspension comes on the heels of China's successful test of a new anti-satellite space weapon.

China tested its space-bound ballistic missile system by taking aim at an obsolete 4-foot by 4-foot communications satellite orbiting 530 miles above the earth.

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The Chinese missile scored a direct hit on the target, creating more orbiting space debris and increasing the risk of collision between the debris and other orbiting satellites.

According to NASA spokesman Jason Sharp, China's missile test undermined an agreement reached between President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao during an April summit.

"We believe China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the constructive relationship that our presidents have outlined, including on civil space cooperation," Sharp said.

He also said there were "some initial discussions looking at where there were mutual interests where we could cooperate with the Chinese," but there are no plans for future discussions. The two presidents had hoped to work on joint moon exploration and space-debris avoidance.

Space debris is only part of the issue. The real issue is that China's weapons test puts U.S. satellites within China's reach in the event of some future war.

America relies on satellites to guide smart bombs, keep track of enemy troop movements, guide cruise missiles on target, provide real-time battlefield communications, as well as monitoring potential incoming missile attacks.

Knock our satellites out of the sky and what remains of our military machine is about the size of Saddam Hussein's pre-Gulf War Iraq, but, without technology to make it all work, not nearly as well-equipped.

Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and the administration's point man for space security policy, said this week that the space weapons test was "a shock."

It shows space is a "contested environment" and that "countries are developing capabilities to put at risk our assets for which we are dependent," he said.

"This is a wake-up call," Joseph said, noting that the United States needs "to ensure that we take the steps necessary to protect the space assets and the right to unfettered access to space."

It may be a wake-up call, but we should have set the alarm a bit earlier.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House Armed Services Committee, was more blunt, calling the test "irresponsible and unacceptable" and warning that, "sticking our heads in the sand isn't going to make it better; it will only make it worse."

The warning, like the wake-up call, would have been a good idea – 10 years ago – before the waiver granted by Bill Clinton handed China the technology it needed.

It's too late to close Pandora's Box now.

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