Beijing Blogger Probes Anti-Satellite Missile
New America Media, Commentary, Xujun Eberlein, Posted: Jan 23, 2007
Editor's Note: China has just confirmed that it shot down one of its own satellites, but Chinese bloggers and U.S.-based Chinese media have been discussing the incident for days. New America Media contributor Xujun Eberlein was born in Chongqing, China. She writes on China from her home in Boston, Mass.
Last Friday, www.people.com.cn, the online venue for China's government newspaper People's Daily, published a report titled "America's Wild Speculation on China's Anti-Satellite Missile." By Monday the article has been taken down, but not before it launched numerous arguments among Chinese Web surfers.
A popular Beijing blogger, Da Niu ("big ox"), summarizes the Web fights in a Sunday post as "Hawks say (the missile) boosting (Chinese) spirits, strengthens our country's power, not to mention that others are also doing it; Doves say this violates the outer space treaty, increases international distrust, and might cause a new round of outer space weapon competition."
In his post, Da Niu calls the people.com report an "export turned to import" type of news and expresses his distrust of that Web site. "I'm still not sure whether (a satellite) has been shot down or not. I have been waiting for the Xinhua agency or People's Daily to either deny the rumor and criticize the American media's nonsense, or to proudly announce that we are not only able to launch a satellite, we can also shoot it down."
But China's official print has kept totally silent. Instead, news spreads through the grapevine with the authorities warning: "talking about the anti-satellite missile is no longer permitted." And Da Niu notices that related reports are gone from sina.com, a popular commercial Web site and major blog space in China.
Translated foreign reports can still be seen posted in the blog section of sina.com.
"Now I just don't understand," the Beijing blogger writes, "shooting satellite isn't shooting airplane (masturbation), what is there that is so embarrassing to talk about? Doing it isn't a shame; not doing it is even more honorable."
Over twenty responses, both joking and serious, appear under Da Niu's original post. One reads, "Not telling our countrymen, having done it while keeping people guessing is China's tradition."
(link to Da Niu's Web site: http://www.bullog.cn/blogs/daynew/archives/23902.aspx)
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User Comments
Arkadet Sripipat on Jan 30, 2007 at 21:30:12 said:
Bush-Wake up !! This is real.
xinglongnite on Jan 23, 2007 at 06:29:22 said:
This ASAT test is a big deal. It requires very sophisticated technology and, according to the US intelligence reports, China probably conducted 3 previous tests before putting the technology together on January 11. Imagine hitting a bullet traveling at mark 20 HEAD ON. If that is not hard enough, then consider this, the bullet bounces in all directions due to gravitational perturbation from the solar constellation as well as the uneven distribution of the mass of the earth. In fact, this test is a demonstration of national hard power of the first order.
-->In 1985 the US test with an F15 was with a satellite at much lower altitude, and it had the benefit of lining up the F15 with the target. The 1983 Russian test was also not with a missile standing on the ground, but another killer satellite packed with explosives. That satellite had to orbit the earth for a long while before getting close enough to detonate.
The Chinese ASAT test is nothing to be ashamed of. It's the first ever of its kind, and it's indeed a very significant event with profound strategic implications.
I'm not sure why China bans domestic report of this event. The space lawyers are not going to pick up a piece of the debris and sue the PLA in any jurisdiction, nor would any other country retract the news already reported. However it would be highly educational if the chinese inside china could be given the opportunity to participate in the global discussions on related (and very important and interesting) issues.