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Issue 139

02 Flash · Free Issue · Integrity Flash 2026 · Members Only

Report: Assessing the Rise of China’s Space Capabilities

Nov 2025: The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) released its 2025 Annual Report to Congress on November 18, 2025, offering 28 bipartisan recommendations to address rising economic and national security threats. The commission dedicated an entire chapter of the report to “China’s Ambitions to…

Author Greg Gillinger Published February 23, 2026

Nov 2025: The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) released its 2025 Annual Report to Congress on November 18, 2025, offering 28 bipartisan recommendations to address rising economic and national security threats. The commission dedicated an entire chapter of the report to “China’s Ambitions to Dominate Space.” I particularly appreciated the focus on the potential economic impacts to the rise in China’s space capabilities. The entire chapter is 58 pages and worth your time, you can find it here. For our visual learners…watch excellent interview hosted by (Friend of the Flash) Clayton Swope here.

Excerpts:

  • “Beijing views space as a warfighting domain and it seeks to achieve space superiority as a cornerstone of its broader effort to establish information dominance”
  • “China has rapidly developed, deployed, & operationalized advanced capabilities in space launch, satellites, and ground-based infrastructure”
  • “People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is rapidly expanding its space- and ground-based assets to enhance its battlespace awareness, operational coordination, and capacity for force projection.”
  • “Over the past decade, China has launched more than 1,000 satellites, dramatically increasing its capacity for persistent surveillance, communications, and precision targeting in support of long-range strike systems.”




  • “China has harnessed its ambitious space program to deepen relations with developing countries and expand its space architecture in support of military, commercial, and broader strategic gains.”
  • “(China) is now seeking to reshape international space governance, influence the development of technical standards, and displace the United States as the world’s premier space power.”
  • “The expansion reflects China’s broader strategy to achieve space superiority and strengthen its ability to use long-range precision weaponry to target and disrupt the flow of U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific.”
  • “In just ten years, China has dramatically transformed an almost non-existent commercial space sector into a thriving, state-orchestrated startup ecosystem.”
  • “If the United States cedes leadership, China is poised to advance a state-driven, opaque governance model that could embed long-term global reliance on its systems and standards.”
  • “Under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping, space exploration has been closely tied to the ‘China Dream’ of national rejuvenation with high-profile missions—such as lunar sample returns and the construction of a space station—used to showcase Party leadership, reinforce domestic confidence, and signal China’s rise as a global scientific and technological power.”
  • “China’s aspiration is to create an integrated, resilient network that would automatically collect, integrate, and analyze information from ISR and PNT satellites and rapidly distribute it to weapon systems to provide the PLA with accurate, space-enabled targeting of U.S. forces using its long-range precision weapons”