Editorial by The Sankei Shimbun July 22, 2021 (japan-forward.com)
• In May 2020, in response to the ongoing militarization of space by China and Russia, Japan’s ‘Self-Defense Force’ launched its ‘Space Operations Squadron’ and revised its “Ensuring Space Security” policy to cooperate with the United States in enhancing its deterrence capabilities in space. Last April, a joint U.S.-Japan Summit pledged to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation in all fields, including space.
• On June 29th, Japan’s Strategic Headquarters for Space Development approved a technological development plan that calls for the creation of a constellation of many small satellites launched into low orbits that would operate as an early warning and surveillance system to monitor missile defense, disaster response, ocean conditions, and other missions.
• On July 14th, the 30 member North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels issued a ‘Summit Communique’ stating that “attacks to, from, or within” space on satellites or other assets of NATO members could lead to invocation of the collective defense article of NATO’s founding treaty.
• Japan and NATO should be alarmed by China’s increasing militarization of space. China’s space development intends to undermine the space superiority of the U.S. military, which relies heavily on its Global Positioning System (GPS) and reconnaissance satellites. In 2007, China conducted a successful missile test to destroy a satellite in space. This created a huge amount of space debris and elicited international condemnation. Nevertheless, Beijing continues its anti-satellite missile testing, minus the actual destruction, and has moved on to develop “killer satellites” and laser weapons.
• On June 23rd, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China’s space industry will contribute to “the peaceful use of space by mankind.” But there is no guarantee that the technologies that China is developing in connection with its space station, for instance, will not be used for aggressive military purposes. Communist China aims to become a “space power” on a par with the United States and is pursuing military-led space development as part of that quest.
• [Editor’s Note] The Sankei Shimbun is the sixth largest newspaper in Japan. Is this fear-mongering ‘editorial’ part of the deep state’s ‘Information War’ intended to distract from and disrupt the Alliance’s actions to bring down the evil deep state which is currently being played out on a higher level here on Earth and throughout the solar system?
Japan needs to be alarmed by China’s increasing militarization of space and increase its
deterrence capabilities to deal with this growing threat.
On June 23, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a video conversation with three Chinese astronauts currently aboard a module that is part of a permanent space station China is constructing. Xi told the three men that the building of the space station “is an important milestone in China’s space industry, and it will make a pioneering contribution to the peaceful use of space by mankind.”
The Chinese leader’s words should not be taken at face value. There is no guarantee that the technologies being developed in connection with the space station will not be used for military purposes.
Communist China is aiming to become a “space power” on a par with the United States and is pursuing military-led space development as part of that quest.
The three astronauts aboard the space station’s core module, all of whom are former Chinese air force pilots, smartly saluted Xi together. They declared that, even though they were now in space, they continued to take pride in the “great Communist Party and motherland.”
The current mission of the astronaut trio is scheduled to last for three months during which time they will test various technologies for facilitating long-term stays in space, among other things engaging in robot arm manipulation and activities outside the space station.
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