China Matters catalogues Chinese concerns regarding last night's satellite shoot-down:
1. Asserting China's qualifications as a space power on par with Russia and the United States.
2. Imputing hidden motives to the US for conducting the operation
3. Expressing resentment that the US did a better PR job than the Chinese did with their test
4. Hoping that the US will screw up.
The post notes a Chinese "news report that the United States will call on fellow space powers Russia and China for assistance in tracking the hulk if the shootdown fails." The Chinese shouldn't believe everything they read in the paper. That never would have happened. And the Chinese can impute away, but whatever the reason for the shootdown, the administration effectively sold it as a public safety measure.
And it is the PR coup that most impresses. It's hard to see how this plays bad for the United States at home or abroad--though critics will surely take a different view (will Obama? doubtful). If the Russians and Chinese are convinced that this is evidence of some new capability, which it isn't, that's gravy. And our allies, especially those states who are collaborating with the United States on missile defense (Poland, Czech Republic, Japan), can only take this as evidence that the system is for real.
Leaving aside the left's criticism of the Bush administration as diplomatically-challenged, conservatives have long lamented the administration's inability to advocate on behalf of its own policies. But by taking this course of action, the Bush administration has done as much to assure future funding and allied support for missile defense as anyone could have hoped. Missile defense is one Reagan legacy that George W. Bush has safeguarded.
And, of course, we didn't screw up. The test was a complete and unvarnished success--assuming the plummeting debris doesn't destroy the island of Midway.
HT: China Rises
