On October 15, 2003, China became only the third nation to send a man into space. Astronaut Lieutenant Colonel Lang Liwei’s 21-hour orbit made him an instant hero in China and reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to modernize the PLA. Observant during the Cold War, Desert Storm, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom, Chinese leaders saw the effect of space support to air, land, and sea operations. They witnessed the value of space enhancement across everything from basic command and control to intelligence gathering to weapon accuracy. In a few instances, they have even begun to capitalize on this recognition. Recent employment of advanced Feng Huo space command and control (C2) systems, new Fanhui Shi Weixing (FSW) space-based intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, and most importantly, covert efforts to develop counter-space systems and tactics aimed at negating an adversary’s
space capability loom large on US defense strategists’ minds. To create these counter-space threats, China is developing, at its restricted space facility located in the Gobi desert, space weapons such as antisatellite lasers and parasitic micro-satellites. Using lexicon from the current US defense establishment, these types of space systems can constitute a “disruptive” technology that represents an “emerging” threat to US space superiority.

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Meteyer, David O. The Art of Peace: Dissuading China from Developing Counter-Space Weapons. USAF Academy, CO: USAF Institute for National Security Studies, August 2005. [ 20 quotes ] [ page 34-5 ]