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Nina Armagno, director of staff of the U.S. Space Force, said
Beijing had made significant progress in developing military
space technology, including in areas such as satellite
communications and re-useable spacecraft, which allow countries
to rapidly scale up their space programs.
“I think it's entirely possible they could catch up and surpass
us, absolutely,” Armagno said at an event in Sydney run by the
Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a research organisation
partly funded by the U.S. and Australian governments. “The
progress they've made has been stunning, stunningly fast.”
Historically lagging in a space race dominated by the United
States and Russia, Beijing has made significant advances in
recent years that have alarmed Washington and other Western
nations.
Ye Peijian, the head of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program,
has likened the moon and Mars to contested islands in the South
China Sea that Beijing is attempting to claim.
China is also developing experimental technology aimed at mining
asteroids and minor planets for natural resources.
“[China] is the only country with both the intent to reshape the
international order and increasingly, the economic, diplomatic,
military and technological power to achieve that objective,”
Armagno said.
Along with Russia, China has also conducted “reckless” missile
tests that have created dangerous amounts of space debris in
recent years, Armagno said.
“These debris fields threatened all of our systems in space, and
these systems are vital to all nations’ security, economic and
scientific interests,” she said.
Founded in 2019 in part as an attempt to counter the rising
capabilities of China, the Space Force is the fourth branch of
the U.S. military, with Armagno serving as its first permanent
leader. It is set to launch three astronauts to its new space
station on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
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