[Rb ver. 2.0]

China could go for the shotgun effect and just send up exploding rockets full of ball bearings in proximity to target satellites. I think their attitude would be denial of space to everyone, including themselves if it came to world conflict.

[cripplecreek]

That's my point about China not being as leery about risking the lives of their astronauts. What we see as a denial of space for us may be seen as an opportunity for them.

[Fitzcarraldo]

China could go for the shotgun effect and just send up exploding rockets full of ball bearings in proximity to target satellites. I think their attitude would be denial of space to everyone, including themselves if it came to world conflict.

Blind spy satellites and GPS in low earth orbit, much mischief they can do.

[theBuckwheat]

Some important satellite systems, like GPS, Iridium, Milstar are actually set up in a constellation, with several evenly spaced satellites in the same orbit. The most important constellation of all are all the giant satellites (some weighing tons) in the Clarke belt, also known as the geostationary belt.

In any of these situations, a single load of sand slowly released along the right orbital path could bring all the satellites in the system down.

When the US tested its ASat, it took almost two decades for the debris to decay out of orbit.