China’s relative strategic isolation in relation to the United States is a further complicating factor for Beijing in calculating the vulnerability of its space capabilities. It is worth considering that during operations in Iraq, up to 77 percent of the communications bandwidth used by U.S. deployed forces was provided by commercial suppliers, a significant percentage of which were foreign. Thus, strategic allies will potentially be very important in the new global space environment. Not all commercial satellite operators are under the institutional control of the nations they are registered in. However, the United States has become acutely aware of the need for cooperation amongst treaty allies for protection of satellite infrastructure and sharing of selected threat and vulnerability data. Although China has a ‘strategic partnership’ with seven of the top 10 space powers, five are in NATO and all but one (Russia) would arguably be considered to fall within a formal or informal alliance structure with the United States.

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Hagt, Eric. "Mutually Assured Vulnerabilities." China Security. Vol. 1, No. 2 (2006): 84-106. [ 6 quotes ] [ page 91 ]