Secondarily, there are also active defense measures, which entail actions of avoidance such as orbital maneuvering; or countermeasures such as anti-interference and anti-jamming techniques. At the extreme would be the use of micro-satellites to actively ‘guard’ other satellites and act as decoys, or even counter-attack. While these remain defensive measures, they take on a quality of dissuasion and even deterrence. Greater situational awareness through enhanced monitoring and surveillance in space is also crucial to this idea of defense in space. One of the driving forces behind China’s efforts to research space debris identification and tracking is to also improve China’s ability to monitor military assets.68 The ability to identify and discriminate objects in space is crucial to evaluating threats from non-threats in space.

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Hagt, Eric. "Mutually Assured Vulnerabilities." China Security. Vol. 1, No. 2 (2006): 84-106. [ 6 quotes ] [ page 93 ]