Chinese checker: Lasers, stealth subs to beat Starlink

AP Rome

Stealth submarines fitted with space-shooting lasers, supply-chain sabotage and custom-built attack satellites armed with ion thrusters. Those are just some of the strategies Chinese scientists have been developing to counter what Beijing sees as a potent threat: Elon Musk's armada of Starlink communications satellites.

Chinese government and military scientists, concerned about Starlink's potential use by adversaries in a military confrontation and for spying, have published dozens of papers in public journals that explore ways to hunt and destroy Musk's satellites, an Associated Press review found.

Chinese researchers believe that Starlink - a vast constellation of low-orbit satellites that deliver cheap, fast and ubiquitous connectivity even in remote areas - poses a high risk to the Chinese government and its strategic interests. That fear has mostly been driven by the company's close ties to the US intelligence and defence establishment, as well as its growing global footprint.

"As the United States integrates Starlink technology into military space assets to gain a strategic advantage over its adversaries, other countries increasingly perceive Starlink as a security threat in nuclear, space and cyber domains," wrote professors from China's National University of Defense Technology in a 2023 paper.

Chinese researchers are not the only ones concerned about Starlink, which has a stranglehold on certain space-based communications. Some traditional US allies are also questioning the wisdom of handing over core communications infrastructure - and a potential trove of data - to a company run by an unpredictable foreign businessman whose allegiances are not always clear.

Apprehensions deepened after Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine made clear the battlefield advantages Starlink satellites could convey and have been exacerbated by Musk's proliferating political interests.