China's Great Wall of Steel in the Blue Sky

In a celebration marking the 60^th anniversary of the founding of China's air force Chinese air force commander Xu Qiliang told reporters that military competition was irreversibly "Shifting to space," because "Control of space equals control of the ground, oceans and electro-magnetic spheres, it means taking the strategic initiative," Reuters reported. He also metaphorically described recreating the Great Wall of China as a "Great Wall of steel in the blue sky."

Hu's in Charge Anyway?

Even as the echoes of these statements reverberated among other space-faring nations and other Chinese rivals, Chinese President Hu Jintao sought to calm fears. Hu reiterated China's commitment to cooperation and peaceful development in space. He was also quoted by Reuters as saying "China will unswervingly uphold a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, and will never seek military expansion and an arms race, and will never constitute military threat to any other country."

Hu Jintao's Space Message Lost in Translation?

National defense and a defensive policy are somewhat subject to interpretation. It has been said that the best defense is a good offense, and that the best way to protect one's borders is to knock your enemies back away from them. Would that constitute a defensive action in Hu's dictionary? Since China considers Taiwan to be a part of China, reasserting control over the island nation would allow China to claim that they were not attacking or threatening another nation, much the way that Tibet was assimilated.

Space-based Weapons

The truth of the matter is much more closely aligned to Xu Qiliang's remarks. Military competition is irreversibly expanding into space. The United States and every nation with the technological capability to do so is using earth orbit as a military base. Spy satellites, anti-missile systems, anti-satellite satellites, and everything else that military engineers can conceive and create is either buzzing around over our heads already, or soon will be.

Space, the Final Frontier

NASA carries military payloads into space on a regular basis. China's space program, the Russian space program, and every other nation that can manage it is doing the same. Man carries war and conflict where ever he goes, and vies for every advantage over his rivals, whether it's on Earth, in the sky, or even on the moon or Mars. Despite any nation's words to the contrary, if space is the next frontier, then it will soon be populated with frontier military outposts.