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Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ]

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Europe is Benefitting from U.S. Restrictions on Satellite Exports to China
 
The French satellite manufacturer Alcatel, which ranks third in the world and first in Europe, has had a commercial presence in China since 1983 and earns 10% of its income there. In 2002, Alcatel and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) signed a contract for the joint development of the first Chinese high-capacity communications satellite. Buoyed by this achievement, Alcatel further intends to double its business in the region over the next several years. Consequent to the Cox Report and current export control laws, US satellite manufacturers cannot sell communication satellites to China.

These restrictions have caused Beijing to adopt standards that minimize vulnerability to US embargo by increasing compatibility with European technologies. China has opted for the European standard for its GSM mobile telephone technology, which is important for future contracts. Regarding space missions, researchers from China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General (CLTC), which oversees all China’s launch sites as well as launch and tracking activities, emphasize that "ESA standards have been playing a very important role" in such areas as "PCM telemetry, PCM remote control, telemetry channel coding, emission frequency and modulation and space-carried data management systems." Clearly Europe has made significant inroads into the potentially lucrative China market and intends to expand them. More broadly, "the EU has expressed the intention of developing its strategic partnership with [China].
Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 21 ]
Europe Trying to Develop Self-Sufficiency in Military Space Despite U.S. Protests
 
The USA has not encouraged Europe in the development of military space hardware. Washington’s argument has been that European military needs are great in so many other areas, such as transport planes and precision guided munitions, that Europeans should prioritize spending there rather than on surveillance satellites. The US view has also been that there is no need for such European development, since high-resolution imagery is now commercially available. When ordering imagery from a US-affiliated company, however, countries inevitably reveal what they are interested in looking at, and that information can find its way to the US government. Furthermore, many countries simply do not trust the USA to refrain from exercising shutter control and buying up or switching off commercial imagery during a crisis. Europe’s prioritization for development of its Global Monitoring and Environmental Security (GMES) system, an autonomous European dualuse global satellite monitoring capability, reflects this distrust. Self-sufficiency in space is an increasingly important European goal. GMES, Galileo and Ariane, all programs to provide autonomous capabilities, represent the three pillars of Europe’s current space strategy.
Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 17 ]
Galileo would Remove U.S. Ability to Deny Enemy Use of GPS
 
While there is no evidence that any country has yet used GPS-guided equipment against US forces in combat, that situation could soon change. Iraq attempted to jam GPS signals in 2003. That turned out to be a dire mistake for the Iraqi jammers—the US Air Force was able to lock onto their signals and subsequently target missiles on their location. But China is no Iraq. Pentagon officials worry that China could use GPS to guide weapons directed against the US in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. The USA is reportedly developing a new signal that would give the Pentagon the option of maintaining use of its own military signal while jamming the commercial signal potentially being used by enemy forces. Having an alternative source like Galileo available, however, could negate the value of the new US code.
Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 19 ]
China and Europe Cooperating on Galileo Project
 
The Sino--European Galileo agreement is, in some respects, part of a plan of broader co-operation between Europe and China. Regarding space, it is also not without precedent. For 20 yr China and Europe have worked together on space-based Earth observation programs, and the launch of observation satellites. China and Europe are working together on China’s Double Star project. As its name indicates, the mission consists of two satellites in complementary orbits, designed to simultaneously gather data on the changing magnetic field. China designed, built, launched (in 2002 and 2003) and now operates the satellites. The intent is to have China’s satellites work in concert with four ESA satellites, which were launched in summer 2000 into elliptical Earth orbits and are collectively called the ‘Cluster’ mission.
Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 21 ]
China has Transformed Itself into a Global Strategic Power other Countries want to Cooperate With
 
The development of advanced technology with its corresponding (and overlapping) economic and military benefits has replaced the dynamic of political alignment, which was prevalent during the Cold War, as a major international system variable. This century’s analogue to Cold War geopolitical competition is geotechnological maneuvering. Numerous China experts have recently pointed out two realities that need to be factored into future world order considerations. First, China’s rise in world affairs is inevitable. While Washington would like to maintain the status quo in Asia for as long as possible, for its benefits to the USA, Beijing is no longer satisfied with being a passive non-player in world events. Furthermore, China increasingly has the clout to demand to be a player. The second reality is that China has been largely successful in transforming its image from that of a dissatisfied and defensive power to that of a regional power with which other countries want to co-operate. During China’s diplomatic transformation, the image of the USA has changed as well, from that of a public goods provider worthy of emulation, to -- at least in some quarters—that of an ‘empire-building’ unilateralist power. A poll released in June 2005 by the Pew Research Center found that in six out of nine Western publics China received higher percentages of favorable ratings than did the USA. That being the case, growing Sino--European cooperation, particularly in space, can be partially explained by those great powers’ strategic interests in (1) maximizing their respective economic positions vis-a` -vis competitors such as the USA and Japan and (2) to some extent, balancing against preponderant American power. As of 1 May 2004, the EU overtook Japan as China’s largest trading partner. China has imported over $75 billion in technology from Europe, more than from any other source. At over $160 billion in 2004, Sino--EU trade is already three times of that of Sino--Russian trade.
Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 13 ]
China's Space Program Drive by Techno-Nationalism
 
Driving Beijing’s recent space achievement is a long-term commitment "to propel China’s high technology development" fueled by the ideology of techno-nationalism. Techno-nationalism is the 21st century equivalent of the earlier developmental nationalism that had stemmed from colonial subjugation and left many populations willing to accept national discipline—such as the Chinese one child policy—to produce independent national power. While even China is not governed by a single guiding ideology today, the increasing salience of space and of other advanced technologies is bringing techno-nationalism to the fore as a useful framework for understanding the motivations of developing great powers such as China. It helps to answer such questions as "Why would China, with over 1.3 billion people to feed, house and keep employed, spend money on a manned space program?"
Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 13 ]
Many Countries have Started Developing Independent Military Space Capabilities
 
Subsequent to the Gulf War, several countries -- including some that had previously defined the ‘peaceful’ use of space as meaning explicitly non-military -- changed their view and began to develop dual-use space technology such as imagery for uses including military. The UK has enjoyed special access to US imagery and has, consequently, been less interested in an autonomous development of capabilities than have other countries. Germany, by contrast, is building a series of radar observation satellites. France launched its third military surveillance satellite into orbit in December 2004. Helios 2A is reportedly able to spot textbook-sized objects anywhere on Earth. It is equipped with infrared sensors, which allow it to gather information both in daylight and at night. French President Jacques Chirac argued that without its own satellite capabilities, Europe would remain little more than a "vassal" of America.
Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 16 ]
China Pursuing National Power through Technological Advancement
 
China specialists John Lewis and Xue Litai point out that China’s military industrial complex heralded the rise of techno-nationalism by leading Beijing’s transition from politics to science in command - - "For the first time— ironically coming during the high tide of the political furor and ideological torment of the Cultural Revolution -- technology and Western military concepts had begun to displace politics and ideology as the underpinnings of China’s military policies." Starting with Deng Xiaoping, China’s recent leaders broadened the scope of technonationalism to guide all aspects of China’s comprehensive national development [jiehe guojia fazhan]. Techno-nationalism holds that technological development is not a superpower luxury. When it comes to such key national interests as space development, all potential great powers, believing that they must depend only on themselves, engage in techno-nationalist realpolitik.
Johnson-Freese, Joan. "The Emerging China-EU Space Partnership: A Geo-Technological Balancer." Space Policy. Vol. 22, No. 1 (February 2006): 12-22. [ 8 quotes ] [ page 15 ]