The China Syndrome

From Foreign Policy In Focus:

… In their efforts to secure funding for all these costly new weapons, U.S. military officials – and their allies in Congress and the corporate world – have begun highlighting the China threat. When China successfully tested what Washington described as an anti-satellite missile last January, the threat-mongering kicked up a notch. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also cited this test as justification for an increase in Pentagon spending on space technology. “The department’s heavy reliance on space capabilities is clear to potential adversaries, some of whom are developing anti-satellite weapons,” he declared on February 6, in an obvious reference to China. “Protecting our assets in space is, therefore, a high priority.”