Chinese military seeks to dominate from space, deploys war-fighting tools into orbit

China’s People’s Liberation Army is building and deploying an array of space warfare tools, including anti-satellite missiles and cyberweapons, which will be used to dominate Earth by controlling space, according to an Air Force report.

The report by the China Aerospace Studies Institute, part of the Air University, also blames China for spreading a huge amount of space debris, mainly from a 2007 anti-satellite missile test. The ASAT test destroyed a weather satellite and left more than 3,400 pieces of floating space junk that will threaten satellites and manned spacecraft for years.

“China’s military has designated outer space as a warfighting domain — described as a ‘new commanding height of war’ — that China must fight for and seize if it is to win future wars,” the report stated. “People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers and analysts assert that space is the ultimate high ground, and that whoever controls space controls the Earth.”

The PLA views its military space systems for command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as critical to waging high-tech war.

“At the same time, Chinese military analysts regard space as a critical vulnerability that can debilitate an enemy if access is denied,” the report said.