According to the latest DOD report on Chinese military capabilities, the People's Republic of China (PRC) views the need for counterspace capabilities as inevitable. The PRC, according to Theresa Hitchens, is the only other country in the world that is engaged in a political-military debate on the value of space weaponization. Part of what makes China the most likely near term competitor for the United States is the extreme uncertainty that surrounds the Chinese space program. According to the DOD's 2004 report on Chinese military capabilities, the PRC realizes that the US is so dependent on space and, thus, it remains interested in counterspace capabilities that can deny or degrade America's ability to react to a PRC-Taiwan conflict. Paradoxically, the mystique of Chinese intentions makes space derived intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) one of the few ways that the US can assess the progress of PRC space weapons. China recognizes this paradox and has taken steps to bolster its counterspace capabilities. A July 2000 article by Yang Hucheng, a Chinese defense analyst, supports this assertion. Hucheng suggests "for countries that can never win a war with the United States by using the method of tanks and planes, attacking the U.S. space system may be an irresistible and most tempting choice. Part of the reason is that the Pentagon is greatly dependent on space for its military action."

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Koskinas, Ioannis. "Space Warfare Foolosophy: Should the United States be the First Country to Weaponize Space?." Air & Space Power Journal. (January 2005). [ 1 reference ]