Beijing has closely followed the technology-driven revolution in US military affairs that, to a great extent, depends on spaceborne assets. The conventional military prowess demonstrated by the American military in recent operations seized the attention of Chinese strategists who view the space-networked nature of this new American way of war as a potential weakness. As a result, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is developing new doctrine, based on surprise and information systems attack, to counter a threat it sees to its own strategic position. The dramatic space- and information-fueled success of US military operations over the past 15 years profoundly impacted Chinese military thinking. The decisiveness with which the US dismantled the Iraqi army in the 1991 Gulf War shocked Beijing and highlighted the vulnerability of China's technologically inferior forces. Operations DESERT STORM and ALLIED FORCE led the People's Republic of China (PRC) to develop a new Three Attacks and Three Defenses strategy emphasizing denial of enemy precision strike, electronic warfare, and reconnaissance capabilities—all dependent to some degree on space systems. The introduction of Global Positioning System (GPS)-guided munitions in ALLIED FORCE heightened the PLA's consciousness of the critical role of space control in US warfighting. China witnessed yet another quantum jump in American exploitation of space-based communications, navigation, and ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) in Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM.

---

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 18 ]