Friday, January 19, 2007

China in Space

Here are two linked articles referring to an Arms Race and Rivalry between the United States and China. We will discuss in class next week.

Chinese missile destroys satellite in space


By Richard Spencer in Beijing
Last Updated: 4:26pm GMT 19/01/2007

The Chinese authorities have not confirmed a US report that it blew up one of its own aged weather satellites last Thursday with a ballistic missile fired from the Xichang space centre in Sichuan province.

There is stony silence on the subject in the Chinese media today as concern grows in the US and in the region about the prospect of an arms race in space.

China knows how much America has to lose


By Richard Spencer in Beijing
Last Updated: 4:26pm GMT 19/01/2007

The American public may now be lulled into a false sense of security by the "been there, done that" attitude prevalent in some quarters; or it may be sent into a panic that a new communist rival is about to replace it as Top Nation. But China's leaders will not be taken in by either myth, and will instead keep a cool eye on what really matters.

Despite appearances, what really matters to China is not whether its military and its space programme can catch up with America's.

In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a zero-sum, winner-takes-all competition for supremacy. It was conducted across all fronts: military, economic, philosophical, cultural. It was waged, at different points, in every corner of the world.



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