China Denounces US Regarding Space as ‘Warfighting Domain’, Calls for 'Peace and Stability' in Orbit

Last month, the US Space Force (USSF) launched a new intelligence center and US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines called space “a warfighting domain.” The military branch was launched in 2019 as Washington began to fret it was losing its half-century of dominance in US orbit.

The Chinese government has denounced the United States’ militarization of space, calling on Washington to allow space to be a peaceful domain instead of seeking to control it exclusively.

“Space is a global public sphere and a key factor in humanity’s security and wellbeing. Preventing space arms race is an important prerequisite for ensuring peace, tranquility and sustainable use of outer space,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters on Tuesday.

“The US is the main driver in turning outer space into a weapon and a battlefield. It has long pursued a strategy for dominance in space and openly defined outer space as a war-fighting domain,” he said. “To achieve its strategy, the US has been aggressively developing and deploying a variety of offensive outer space weapons such as directed energy and Counter Communications System, frequently holding military drills and advancing all-round military buildup and preparedness in outer space. The US has engaged in intelligence theft and close-in reconnaissance in the space domain, just as it has done in other domains. This would bring a serious negative impact on global strategic stability and constitute grave threats to peace and security in outer space.

“The US should behave responsibly in outer space, stop fueling the militarization and weaponization of outer space, and earnestly undertake its due responsibility of safeguarding peace and stability in outer space,” the spokesperson added.

Director Avril Haines of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) testifies during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 15, 2021

© AP Photo / Al Drago

Zhao was responding to a question about the USSF establishing a National Space Intelligence Center in Ohio late last month. The new unit, Space Delta 18, was formed out of two squadrons formerly part of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, a US Air Force unit. According to Satellite Today, the NSIC describes its mission as delivering “unparalleled technical expertise and game-changing intelligence — empowering national leaders, joint force warfighters, and acquisition professionals to outwit, outreach and win in the space domain.”

“Make no mistake, space is a warfighting domain today, and an ever increasingly contested one at that,” Haines, who as DNI oversees the US’ 17 intelligence agencies, said at the stand-up ceremony for the NSIC at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

“I cannot stress enough how important Space Force intelligence is to our national security. And the establishment of this service intelligence center is a critical step to shape the future of the Space Force, improve acquisitions, and drive innovation across the community,” Haines added. “And there is no doubt that the transfer of these basic units to NSIC aligns our nation’s intelligence resources to focus analysis production for an ever evolving space mission."

In April 2021, shortly after she assumed her post as DNI, Haines told a Senate committee that China “has been working hard on a variety of different efforts in this area to try to contest what has been presumed [to be] our leadership” in space, and her office described Beijing as the US’ “top threat” in terms of technological competitiveness.

An air-to-air left side view of an F-15 Eagle aircraft releasing an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile during a test on Sep. 13, 1985, at the Pacific Missile Test Range, CA

© Paul E. Reynolds

The USSF was created in late 2019 after the Trump administration claimed US space assets, which include a network of communications and spy satellites, were under increased threat by nations like Russia and China. Both nations have tested ground-based anti-satellite missiles in recent years - a capability that for decades only the United States and the Soviet Union possessed - and China especially has a steadily accelerating space program.

In its foundational doctrinal documents, the Space Force describes space as the ultimate “high ground,” and “elevates spacepower as a distinct formulation of military power on par with landpower, seapower, airpower, and cyberpower.” Without its space assets, the US military would not have the spying, communications, or even targeting information necessary to wage its overseas conflicts.

In response, the US has begun developing its own space weapons, including researching powerful directed-energy weapons like lasers and particle beams, as well as jamming and anti-jamming devices, and a new generation of advanced satellites. However, critics have pointed out that the threat is largely imagined, and that the USSF will be highly dependent on defense contractors, who will net massive new contracts with the new service.