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Hagt, Eric. "China's ASAT Test: Strategic Response." China Security. (Winter 2007): 31-51. [ 5 quotes ]

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ASAT Test Represent China's Increasing Willingness to Test U.S. Military Hegemony
 
Even if we are facing the worst case scenario and China is bent on space weaponization (entirely inconsistent with its past behavior), the reality remains that China can be brought to the negotiating table with appropriate measures and international pressure. After all, China clearly remains the far weaker space power vis-à-vis the United States and a space race would be proportionately far more costly to China than the United States. But in order for progress to be made, the United States also needs to come to terms with a new reality. China's ASAT test was a voice of opposition both to the structure of security in space and the U.S. pursuit of military dominance in space at the exclusion of others. And thus, it is actually America's response to the ASAT test that may be even more important in how the future of space security plays out. China probably has both the technological and financial means to compete with the United States in space over the long term. If the United States concludes it must meet a threat with more threat, it may invite a military race in outer space and China may just give it to them. If the United States can muster the political will and leadership to restrain its reaction, there is still hope. But flexibility and sacrifice will be essential.
Hagt, Eric. "China's ASAT Test: Strategic Response." China Security. (Winter 2007): 31-51. [ 5 quotes ] [ page 43 ]
Before China Tested its ASAT, U.S. Space Weapons Effort was Politically Uncertain
 
American scholars closely monitoring the situation correctly note that the future of the U.S. space weapons program is far from certain and that China's ASAT test has only fanned the flames of its proponents in the United States. Significant political, budgetary and even technological obstacles constantly threaten to derail the program. For instance, in the past several years a number of space weapons systems have had their funding cut or the program shelved altogether and the U.S. Air Force is under increasing pressure to prove economic viability of its military space programs. Numerous technological difficulties continue to plague the NMD program. Also important is the perennial domestic political debate over whether such systems will enhance America's security or threaten to undermine it. With Congress now under control of the Democrats, and U.S. military quagmired in Iraq, Bush's military space ambitions would have been scrutinized far more and perhaps even reversed.
Hagt, Eric. "China's ASAT Test: Strategic Response." China Security. (Winter 2007): 31-51. [ 5 quotes ] [ page 40 ]
ASAT Test was not a Ploy to Force U.S. Back to Space Arms Control Negotiations
 
Second, implicit in this charge is also that the diplomatic effort was colluding with the military to pursue a space weapons program. Undermining years of China's reputation and hard work for dubious military gains fraught with high risk is utterly inconsistent with China's otherwise patient international diplomacy. Similarly, the test could not reasonably be a ploy – particularly by China's Foreign Ministry – to force the United States back to the negotiating table. Nations do not respond to threats by acquiescing, particularly when threatened by a weaker state. It would smack of appeasement, or worse, cowardly surrender, neither of which would be an option in any country's domestic political environment. There is no historical U.S. behavioral precedent that would lead China to believe the United States would respond constructively to such an egregious act. It is conceivable that the MFA acquiesced in light of the failure to sway the U.S. through diplomacy or, at worst, the MFA wasn't fully informed.
Hagt, Eric. "China's ASAT Test: Strategic Response." China Security. (Winter 2007): 31-51. [ 5 quotes ] [ page 38 ]
China has Heavily Invested in Space Economy and has an Interest in Securing its Investment
 
There is a second threshold rapidly approaching that is raising China's national security anxieties. China now stands at the cusp of becoming a heavily invested power in space. China has deep and growing interests in terms of the lucrative commercial satellite industry, its civilian, manned and exploratory space programs as well as military programs in space. China plans to launch up to 100 satellites during the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2006-2010), an almost four-fold increase from the number launched in the preceding FYP. It's manned and unmanned civilian exploratory programs are equally ambitious for the next 15 years with launches planned for manned docking in orbit, voyages to the moon and the beginning of a Mars program. Several new satellite and micro-satellite research and production facilities have significantly boosted China's indigenous satellite production program. Also, a brand new launch center is under construction in Hainan Province, which will vastly increase China's capacity to launch vehicles into geostationary orbit. Due to China's highly opaque system and the inherent dual-use nature of space technology, its military programs are largely unknown, though certainly significant. All told, China's ambitions in space are impressive and the growth of its programs is unprecedented, perhaps even compared with past Soviet and American space programs. Moreover, space is far more than a monetary investment for China. It's aspirations in space are also part of a larger and more comprehensive economic and social plan. Presently, China remains less dependent and therefore less vulnerable in space than the United States, but that situation is changing. The ASAT test was a clear message that China also has deep and growing interests in space that require defending.
Hagt, Eric. "China's ASAT Test: Strategic Response." China Security. (Winter 2007): 31-51. [ 5 quotes ] [ page 41-2 ]
China is Using Space Arena to Challenge U.S. Hegemony
 
Finally, to focus only on the impact on the future security in space by this ASAT weapon test would be to miss the larger strategic undercurrent that it represents. While its purpose may have been only a specific challenge to U.S. intentions to dominate space, China has lucidly demonstrated a willingness to challenge U.S. policies and strategies that are inherently threatening to China. America's unipolar moment probably died with its decision to go into Iraq. Now, its ability to act without consideration of others' security interests is being challenged. The Chinese call this "hegemony" and they are now opposing it openly. As this article began, China was not challenging U.S. power in space; it was challenging the U.S. self-described right to dominate it. With America's vulnerability in space, this test is in fact the easier way to challenge the United States (to do so conventionally would be suicidal). If the United States continues to pursue its own strategic and security interests at the exclusion of China (or others), it should be prepared for more confrontation, especially if that impinges on China's core national interests. Conceding this is not about surrendering strategic ground to a potential or future adversary, it's about reaching accommodation and common ground that is not only equitable but inevitable.
Hagt, Eric. "China's ASAT Test: Strategic Response." China Security. (Winter 2007): 31-51. [ 5 quotes ] [ page 44 ]