Space and Military Power in East Asia:
The Challenge and Opportunity of Dual-Purpose Space Technologies
Rebecca Jimerson and Ray A. Williamson, Editors
PREFACE
The Asia-Pacific is one of the world's
most diverse and prosperous, but politically precarious and rapidly
changing regions. Several conflicts born in the Cold War continue to
define the region, even as these conflicts co-evolve with changes in the
external security environment, and the technological capabilities of
relevant nations. The increasingly wide availability of satellite
information technologies, including communications, remote sensing, and
position/navigation/timing (PNT), used in similar form by both the
civilian and the national security worlds, will greatly affect the
development, elaboration, and conduct of security planning and likely even
the conduct of future conflict throughout East Asia. This collection of papers was originally
prepared by the students in a graduate seminar on the potential effects of
the global proliferation of dual-purpose space technologies on the
strategic balance of power in East Asia, an area of extreme strategic
importance to the United States. The seminar constituted an important part
of the Space Policy Institute study on Dual Purpose Space Technologies and U.S.
Policymaking. These papers make a significant
contribution to a broad-based study of U.S. policy toward dual-purpose
space technologies. Each student was asked to choose a political entity
(China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, or Taiwan) or technology
(satellite communications, remote sensing, or position/navigation (PNT))
to study and report on. The resulting country papers summarize the
military and economic posture of each political entity, along with its
experience with and use of space technologies. The technology papers focus
on summarizing the technologies available to the region and their level of
sophistication. The overall result is a unique, cross-cutting set of
papers on regional military force posture and space capabilities in East
Asia, and a detailed discussion of the future of U.S. policies in the
region. Among other things, these papers
illustrate how complex are the economic, political, and military
relationships within the region. They also reveal the important part that
dual purpose space technologies play in these relationships. The papers follow. We thank Mr. John
Baker, Dr. Dana Johnson and Dr. Scott Pace of RAND, Mr. Richard Buennecke
of the Aerospace Corporation, and, Mr. Dean Cheng of SAIC for providing
stimulating lectures during the seminar. We also thank Mr. Dean Cheng of
SAIC and Dr. Kirk Larsen of The George Washington University for their
assistance in reviewing several chapters. We welcome constructive
criticisms and comments. Please address all comments to Professor Ray A.
Williamson at rayw@gwu.edu.