It is highly likely China is developing ground-based directed energy weapons with the capability to temporarily disable, damage, or even destroy a satellite. With roughly 300 organizations, 3,000 engineers, and 10,000 total personnel participating in laser-related efforts, Beijing's aggressive pursuit of advanced directed energy technology has given its program world-class status. As early as 1994, the Chinese successfully tested a free electron laser with a 140 megawatt output. They have since pursued miniaturization of laser systems, perhaps to enable a mobile system. According to other reports, China is seeking to build an ASAT system using a high-energy deuterium fluoride laser, mimicking the US Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) design. Based in Central China, and slated for additional upgrades, such a system would provide the ability to destroy, rather than simply blind, targeted vehicles. The PRC may have obtained technology from Russia to build a high-power, nuclear-driven laser. In 1999, a congressional commission concluded "it is possible that the PRC will be able to use nuclear reactors to pump lasers with energies high enough to destroy satellites". The proximity of low-Earth orbit systems makes them good targets for attack with this type of system. While Earth-oriented optical sensors on satellites in higher orbits may also be vulnerable, the distances involved and effects desired may make a space-based ASAT approach more attractive.

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France, Martin E.B. and Richard J. Adams. "The Chinese Threat to US Superiority." High Frontier Journal. Vol. 1, No. 3 (Winter 2005): 17-22. [ 12 quotes ] [ page 20 ]