A Study on the Space Warfare Capability of the People’s Republic of China

• Main Authors: Chin-Ming Li, 李進明
• Other Authors: Alexander Chieh-cheng Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53655282481660288592

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 國際事務與戰略研究所碩士班 === 96 === In modern high tech warfare, there exists huge gaps between countries which with space advantages, and those have not. In “Operation Desert Strom” in 1991, the “space Assets” operated by the U.S. military had a great influence to the result of war. That has raised the awareness of many countries regarding the power of space capability. Consequently, “space warfare” has gradually become more real than ever. In recent years, China has made significant achievements in the development of space technology. On October 15, 2003, China sent its first man into space, and the spaceship “Shenzhou V” safely returned to earth after 21 hours; and brought China to be the third member of the “space club.” On October 12, 2005, the “Shenzhou VI” spaceship successfully carried two astronauts to the space. In January 2007, China launched the “KT-II” rocket and destroyed an obsolete weather satellite “FY-1C” in orbit. All these events caught eyes around the world. In addition, China has published more and more books related to “space operation” and “space warfare.” Therefore, whether China is developing its space warfare capability, and whether China has the capability to execute a space war are the primary subjects of this research. The purpose of the thesis is to find out the following: 1. The relationship between the space and China’s national security and military. 2. The history of China’s development in space, its space policy, and the role the People’s Liberation Army in the process. 3. The space technology, equipment, space industry, and the command system in China. 4. The construct of China’s strategy and operational doctrine in space warfare. 5. The different thinking about “space operation” between China, Russia, and the United States. 6. The limitation and prospects of the development of China’s “space warfare” capability. Key findings of this thesis are: 1. China still lag behind Russian and the U.S. in critical space technologies. However, current development would advance China’s overall warfighting capability, and space and commercial technologies. 2. China’s development of space warfare capability, may ignite a new round of “China Threat Theory.” Many Asia-Pacific countries may devote more resources in developing their own military space technologies. 3. China’s space warfare command and control system has not been mature. Compare to Russia and the U.S., China is still lag behind in organization, training, doctrine, and basing. 4. China’s developing of space warfare capability would bring serious threat to Taiwan’s national security.