China would appear to be the number one US competitor in every field, including space advancement. According to US General Kevin Chilton, within the past ten years China has made incredible improvements to their space program. More importantly is the concern among US military leaders about what China could do with their new space technology. General Chilton commented on the program stating, “With regard to China’s capabilities, I think anyone who’s familiar with this business — and particularly our history in this business over the years — would have to be absolutely amazed at the advancement that China has made in such a short period of time, whether that be in their unmanned program or the manned program.” Additionally the General stated that it is necessary to continue building our relationship with China so that they will disclose the purpose of their advanced space program and the reasons behind all of the recent funding they have dumped into the program.
The air force leader of China, Xu Qilang stated that it is “historical inevitability” for space to end up a military field. After hearing this the US General Chilton stated that space has become a testing grounds for military strength and that it is a competitive environment. Additionally more countries are now pursuing space programs which allow them to utilize advanced weapons from space and control land weapons via space.
