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The Rise of China in Space Technopolitical Threat Construction in American Public Policy Discourse Cameron Hunter A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Politics in the Faculty of Social Science and Law School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies February 2018 79996 Words Abstract: Particularly since China’s 2007 anti-satellite demonstration, China’s “rise” in space has predominately come to be characterised as a national security threat within American public policy discourse. Yet American representations of China’s space program as threatening, precluding cooperation, are an outlier in US-China relations, otherwise characterisable as comprised of a mix of cooperation and competition. Despite growing interest, however, this threat has been regarded as self-evident, with little research done on how and why China’s space program came to be understood this way. This thesis seeks to understand this puzzle with the first systematic investigation of the construction of a threatening “rise” of China in space, undertaking a close reading of public US space policy including original archival research into policymakers’ perspectives of China’s Cold War space program. To do so, it outlines a ‘technopolitical’ approach to threat construction analysis, positioning threat and technology within a relationship of co-construction: the “threat” of China’s “rise” in space is not pre-determined from Chinese space capabilities, so the thesis argues, rather they have been actively ‘instrumentalised’ in specific ways. A technopolitical approach to threat construction is required in this case because, equally, “threat” cannot be reduced to clashing identities, but is a product of interconnections between identities and technologies. The thesis’ three parts each address a facet of technopolitical threat construction. Part 1 contextualises the “rise,” theoretically and historically. Part 2 begins to analyse the “threat” of the “rise” after 2000, identifying key logics, objects and subjects. Part 3 explores to what extent threat discourses shaped American space technology and national identities. The thesis argues construction of the “Chinese space threat” was uneven: powerful enough to marginalise rival claims, yet failing to sanction an emergency response; and that this in itself can be best understood as technopolitical contestation within American public policy discourse. i ii To Sarah Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the financial support of the Economic and Social Research Council. The project also benefitted enormously from institutional support from the South West Doctoral Training Centre, the School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies, the John W. Kluge Centre, and the Schumacher Institute. I would like to thank my supervisors for their granular attention to the detail of my work and the consistently high expectations they held of me. Each of you has contributed a great deal in your own particular way. My thanks to Dr Columba Peoples for the incredibly consistent provision of advice and support, from the beginning of the application process until the very end of the project. Thank you to Professor Yongjin Zhang for bolstering my confidence and encouraging me to be an ambitious researcher. The PhD process has been made that much more bearable with the support of friends and colleagues from the SWDTC/P, SPAIS, the Kluge Centre, and numerous other institutions which old friends are now scattered among since I began. You know who you are, and I have come to realise that the warm and supportive communities you created in these places are truly exceptional. In this regard, and I count myself almost ludicrously lucky. I owe a vast debt of gratitude to my family. To my parents, thank you for teaching me a love of learning. In a sense, this is all your fault. To my grandparents, thank you for your pride and encouragement. Finally, to Sarah: there is no way to measure your contribution to the success of my doctoral studies, so I won’t try. iii iv Author’s declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University's Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate's own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: ............................................................. DATE:.......................... v vi Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... iii List of abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... ix List of figures ................................................................................................................................. xi A chronology of China’s space program....................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Part 1: Contextualising China’s Rise in Space Chapter 2: Technopolitical Threat Construction: Theoretical and Methodological Underpinnings ............................................................................................................................ 11 2.1 Discourse and the problematic status of technology........................................................ 12 2.2 Technology and threat ...................................................................................................... 21 2.3 Methods for studying technopolitical threat construction ............................................... 28 Chapter 3: The “China threat” in American Political Discourse ................................................ 35 3.1 The “China threat” as the “Yellow Peril” ........................................................................... 36 3.2 The Cold War comes to Asia and the second “China threat”............................................ 38 3.3 The resurrection of the China threat: China’s “rise” ......................................................... 45 Chapter 4: Historicising the “Chinese Space Threat” 1958-2000 .............................................. 57 4.1 From “Chinese space threat” to “Chinese nuclear threat” 1958-1972 ............................. 59 4.2 From the Shanghai Communique to the beginning of space cooperation 1972-1986 ..... 67 4.3 The return of the “Chinese space threat” 1986-2000 ....................................................... 73 Part 2: Constructing the “Chinese Space Threat” after 2000 Chapter 5: Conceiving the “Chinese space threat:” The Logic of “Capabilities as Intentions” 84 5.1 The public quiet of the White House ................................................................................ 85 5.2 The production and reproduction of the “capabilities as intentions” logic ...................... 87 5.3 The counters to the logic of “capabilities as intentions” ................................................ 101 Chapter 6: Identity and Technology in the Construction of the “Chinese Space Threat” ...... 111 6.1 Technopolitics and the national Self ............................................................................... 112 6.2 The “Chinese space threat” to “the new American way of war” .................................... 114 6.3 The “Chinese space threat” to American exceptionalism ............................................... 125 vii Part 3: Inscribing the “Chinese Space Threat”