Outer Space; Earthly Escalation Chinese Perspectives on Space Operations and Escalation

Conflict has come to space despite past US efforts at prevention. Therefore, space operations are an increasing focus of attention for strategists and policymakers. Given the growing Chinese capabilities and ambitions, it is critical to understand strategic perspectives and anticipate future actions across the range of confrontations in which space is but one of many operational domains. This extends from the repeated use of reversible Chinese counter-space capabilities to the part space plays in the One Belt One Road initiative to spread Chinese influence in Eurasia through to the central role planned for space in the Peoples Liberation Armys PLA key objective of winning local wars under conditions of informatization. Escalation is best controlled when anticipated, and this white paper aims to help this process by providing a glimpse into the cognitive world of Chinese planners.