China Confirms It Has Shot Down Satellite

Beijing, China (AHN) - China confirmed Tuesday that it had tested anti-satellite weapon.

However, it added that the nation does not have intentions of an arms race in space.

Beijing said it had officially told the governments of the U.S., and Japan about the missile test.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said China was interested only in "peaceful development of outer space."

The satellite intercept test is said to be the first of its kind in well over 20 years and there are concerns that it may give rise to a space arms race.

An article in the American Aviation Week and Space Technology was one of the first to report that the test had taken place.

In the report, it was said that the Chinese Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite was obliterated by an anti-satellite system launched from or near Xichang Space Center in China on January 11.

The test is believed to have taken place approximately 537 miles above the earth.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, who confirmed the report last Thursday said at the time, "(the U.S.) believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area".

The U.S. space policy, revised in October, says Washington reserves the right to freedom of action in space, and the U.S. itself is said to be working on research on "satellite-killing" weapons, reports BBC.

" The Chinese don't do anything for no reason. They sent us a message. They know of course that we can shoot down satellites also. If we can go up and repair them we can of course remove them. This message tells us they can also shoot down the Space Shuttle and the Space station. Their reasons for this message will become apparent one day. "

The US has technology generations far advanced then what the Chinese just demonstrated.
You got to remember, what ever military or space technology the US does allow the public or our enemy to know, we got other technology to counter it.
Everyone is so worried about what Iran might have to hit us with in the Persian gulf when we go to war with them soon, but, I am not worried.
Just like Kim Gone Ills hissy fit last year during our 4 th of July, it's just China using him to see what we will do, what our tactics are, and in this incident now with the Satellite, China is trying to make us play out hand, and see what we will do, and maybe caught us off guard, and even though the official press release word is " China Caught US off Guard with testing " .... the US knew all along about this.
The worst thing that will come out of this, is that China now has the ability and is capable to hit our satellites, and create space junk.
The US has technology generations advanced than what our enemies have, but, the US won't tell you about it, and they won't tell you what we can counter them with it.
China is just trying to force our hand, and see what we will do.

"Remember how just before 9/11 FR was abuzz about China's acts of belligerence?(Just check out the pre-9/11 FR threads and see) Remember how communist China detained the US plane crew and dismantled the plane, piece-by-piece? George W. Bush was facing one of the greatest challenges of his presidency - and then came 9/11, and everyone stopped talking about China. Remember?"

Yes I do remember. I would still like to know what GWB gave up to settle that situation. I have a feeling the chinese made out in that deal.

Boeing, John Huang, the Chinese Embassy, and Al Gore
http://www.businessweek.com/1997/13/b3520149.htm
The name sounds innocuous enough--the Council on U.S.-China Affairs. But this now inactive group, created to improve China's image in the U.S., may provide insights into how John Huang, the Democratic fund-raiser, kept tabs on the efforts of U.S. corporations and the Chinese embassy to shape China policy. The council's role also raises questions about the use of foundations as a conduit for corporations who wanted to influence trade policy toward China.
The council was founded by Xue Haipei, a dissident who fled China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Although ardently anticommunist, Xue believed that only by opening China economically would democratic reform be possible. In an ambiguous twist, the Chinese government seems to have tolerated and perhaps even assisted Xue's efforts. At the same time, Xue's organization received financial support from Boeing Co., which sees China as vital to its future.
''UPDATE.'' Case in point: A seven-page memorandum, dated Jan. 15, 1996, obtained from the Democratic National Committee files of Huang. The memo, intended to lay out details of the council's public-awareness strategy is from Xue and is addressed to Boeing and members of the Council on U.S.-China Affairs. Xue copied the memo to Huang, a former Commerce Dept. official and Lippo Group executive. Xue's note to Huang describes the attached memo as an ''update on strategies and programs I drafted for discussion with our partners, like Boeing in this case and with the Embassy.'' While the embassy is not named, another part of the document states that ''the council's China partners'' would pay for expenses incurred by congressional delegations while visiting China as part of the council's program. ,p> The document, obtained by BUSINESS WEEK, affords a glimpse at Huang's network. Former colleagues of Xue say they saw Huang at a council seminar for staffers on Capitol Hill last year. A Boeing representative also was present, according to one attendee.
A Boeing spokesman says the company never belonged to the Council on U.S.-China Affairs. But Boeing concedes it supported the group with a $10,000 grant. The aerospace giant felt a former dissident speaking out in favor of China-U.S. trade lent credibility to the cause of publicizing the benefits of closer relations with China. ''His goal meshed with our goal,'' says Boeing spokesman Tim Neale…..

Ducks in a barrel. And you only have to get something up "going the wrong way"(retrograde) - peanuts, ball bearings, anvils, even frozen water would work. The DeltaV yields impact energy levels almost too high to believe.

The frozen water would soon go away, but you will still be left with an orbiting junkpile.

OTOH the USAF was working on a asat weapon that would launch into a prograde orbit, sneak up on the target, attach itself to the target and drill into the vitals to put it out of commission. And no orbiting pile of trash.

The Army has not been sitting on its collective hands either

MIRACL's test-firing at an Air Force satellite last October became the fulcrum of debate on the issue of space control. While the military has officially claimed the test was designed to measure the vulnerability of U.S. satellites to laser attack, sources and documents clearly show the exercise was also designed to gauge MIRACL's potential use as an emergency anti-satellite weapon.

In fact, MIRACL has had an ASAT mission since the mid-1980s -- a mission that was never advertised, but wasn't secret, either. Last year Inside the Army obtained internal documents stating that MIRACL and its accompanying beam director have had, since their installation, a "contingency mission to negate satellites harmful to U.S. forces." In response to questions about those documents posed in August 1997, the Space and Missile Defense Command confirmed that the Army has "taken the position that the MIRACL laser . . . possesses a limited, or contingency, anti- satellite capability."

Your milage may vary.... Least the large group think the professinal military is too stupid and get caught short on this vital issue.

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