The China Game

Geopolitics steps up again — China successfully tested an anti-satellite weapon by shooting down one of their own old weather satellites. If you go back to the latest National Space Policy, [old post] you’ll see whence all the emphasis on protecting US “freedom of action in space:” the US and China both see this as a major new battleground for geopolitical-scale military superiority.

There’s a much broader game going on, of course. China has worked out a systematic policy of recruiting any states that don’t get along with the US, e.g. African dictatorships that the US won’t deal with because of extensive corruption, and turning them into client states, with extensive Chinese investment (under very strict Chinese control; they don’t care if they have to bribe some locals, but then they get to run the show themselves) turning into a steady supply of raw materials for China. It also means that embargoes are trivially broken; if the Western coalition embargoes someone, they just start working with China instead. Iran being a key example: they’re building oil pipelines out to Beijing now, with China giving Iran full cover for its nuke program. (Also nice for China since Pakistan is an increasingly weak and flaky ally, and at perpetual risk for coup)

Note, BTW, that North Korea’s continued existence is determined by China. The DPRK gets to keep running in their own peculiar madhouse way, and sell advanced missile and nuclear technology to anyone within the Chinese “family.” It’s a way they can provide somewhat sleazy benefits to their closer partners while providing plausible deniability.

Update: More details from the Washington Post.

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Published in: on January 18, 2007 at 11:41  Comments (4)  
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4 Comments

  1. On January 18, 2007 at 20:22 johnnybrainwash said:

    Thanks. Good link. Hasn’t hit my regular space news sites yet.
    Hello, space race #2, but even more militarized this time.

  2. On January 18, 2007 at 20:22 johnnybrainwash said:

    Thanks. Good link. Hasn’t hit my regular space news sites yet.
    Hello, space race #2, but even more militarized this time.

  3. On January 27, 2007 at 23:24 Anonymous said:

    Thanks a lot for this great resource!
    Hello, thanks a lot, You’v done a great job.I can only realize how much time and resources does it take to create such a resource!Great work, I am impressed!

  4. On January 27, 2007 at 23:24 Anonymous said:

    Thanks a lot for this great resource!
    Hello, thanks a lot, You’v done a great job.I can only realize how much time and resources does it take to create such a resource!Great work, I am impressed!


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