US watching China’s space activities for potential threat: Military official
A top US military official says Washington is closely watching China's space activities, raising concern that the advancements would potentially threaten American assets in the domain.
The head of the US Space Command, Army General James Dickinson, said in a telephone news conference with reporters in Asia that China "continue[s] to build and build capabilities that really, quite frankly, hold most of our assets at risk in the space domain."
"It really is an advancement if you will in their capabilities," he said, referring to China.
"Their understanding (is) that space is a very important piece to not only their economic or the global economic environment but also the military environment."
Dickinson said China believes "space is a very important piece to not only their economic or the global economic environment, but also the military environment, so we continue to watch that very closely as they continue to increase capabilities." The army general said his command, along with US Indo-Pacific Command, was focused on the challenge from China.
"A unified stance by allies and partners is critical to countering the coercion and subversion that threatens the international rules-based order here in the Indo-Pacific and beyond," he said.
China, however, says its space program is for peaceful purposes.
Dickinson made the remarks after three Chinese astronauts landed on earth on Sunday onboard the re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft.
China's space program has previously landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon, and it was the third country to put humans in orbit.
In 2003, China became the third government to send an astronaut into orbit on its own after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
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