Last week China expressed concern that the U.S. decision to destroy an errant satellite (which was a success) was actually a thinly veiled missile defense test. The official U.S. explanation was that the satellite contained a potentially toxic fuel that was never used due to a malfunction soon after it was placed in orbit. By hitting the satellite with a missile and breaking it up, the smaller pieces should burn up in the atmosphere and eliminate the threat.

Strangely, the fact that it was a spy satellite that might harbor sensitive technology was not really focused on by the press. Obviously the U.S. would prefer that a high-tech spy satellite burn up in the atmosphere rather than have some parts of it fall into Chinese or Russian hands. It’s happened before, but it was a Russian satellite falling into Western hands.

And of course it was a test of sorts. But the primary reason was likely resource protection. Concern over the toxic fuel was probably genuine, but a distant third.

All that aside, China is clearly hypocritical in this case and their complaints should not be taken at face value or even seriously. Why?

China did not announce it was going to test a missile by shooting down an aging weather satellite when it did so early last year, and in fact didn’t confirm they had done so until two weeks later. The U.S. gave ample notice and even plans to share some of the data with China. China was clearly conducting a missile test, which it now condemns the U.S. for. Finally, China’s test created thousands of pieces of space debris that endangers other satellites and space craft. In contrast, debris from the U.S. satellite will enter the atmosphere and for the most part burn up.

I’m already inclined to support boycotting the 2008 Olympics due to China’s (probably illegal) position on North Korean refugees. Their missile testing hypocrisy only strengthens the notion that they do not deserve the stature and legitimacy that hosting the Olympics has given to other nations (e.g., South Korea in 1988).

China has also flexed its navy muscle where it can, for example in November 2007:

American military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close to the vast U.S.S. Kitty Hawk - a 1,000ft supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board.

By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier.

[. . .]

The lone Chinese vessel slipped past at least a dozen other American warships which were supposed to protect the carrier from hostile aircraft or submarines.

And the rest of the costly defensive screen, which usually includes at least two U.S. submarines, was also apparently unable to detect it.

The U.S. has no excuse for not being prepared for that, especially since nearly the same thing had occurred just the year before:

A Chinese submarine came close to the USS Kitty Hawk carrier group in the Pacific Ocean [in October 2006]. . . A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, however, said she had not heard of such an incident.

The aircraft carrier and its supporting ships were conducting exercises in an unidentified location when the encounter occurred, Adm. William Fallon, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters.

This is an ongoing issue and it’s not going to just go away, as Robert Kaplan pointed out in 2005:

China has committed itself to significant military spending, but its navy and air force will not be able to match ours for some decades. The Chinese are therefore not going to do us the favor of engaging in conventional air and naval battles…

[. . .]

The effect of a single Chinese cruise missile’s hitting a U.S. carrier, even if it did not sink the ship, would be politically and psychologically catastrophic, akin to al-Qaeda’s attacks on the Twin Towers. China is focusing on missiles and submarines as a way to humiliate us in specific encounters. Their long-range-missile program should deeply concern U.S. policymakers.

With an advanced missile program the Chinese could fire hundreds of missiles at Taiwan before we could get to the island to defend it. Such a capability, combined with a new fleet of submarines (soon to be a greater undersea force than ours, in size if not in quality), might well be enough for the Chinese to coerce other countries into denying port access to U.S. ships.

The U.S. needs to point out China’s hypocrisy when it comes to shooting missiles into space, and should have protested Beijing hosting the Olympics on human rights grounds from the start. China is clearly re-emerging as a great power and will challenge America’s position in Asia in this century – we don’t need to coddle them along the way.