China to attack EU satellites, Breton: “European law will address security issue”

Brussels – Interference in signals, stopping transmissions, intrusion into communication systems to influence or prevent satellite services, the Internet, and GPS tracking functions. The new frontier of warfare passes through satellites, and the EU is uneasy about security threats in orbit, especially from China. It is European liberals (RE) who are worried over Beijing’s space operations and its armed forces. “The People’s Liberation Army claims to have developed a space military capability to jam communications satellites,” denounced MEPs Bart Groothuis and Petras Auštrevičius.

Renew’s two exponents referred to newspaper articles, specifically, an analysis and debate platform on strategy, defense, and foreign affairs. Sources to consider, then. The issue is difficult to explain because of the complexity of the subject matter. But in a nutshell, the Chinese may already be able to launch cyber attacks capable of falsifying identity and information (known as ‘spoofing attacks’) and disrupting satellite transmissions (‘jamming attacks’).

The European Union is trying to run for cover. The Commission “is working on an EU space law to create a single market for space operations and products.” A law to “address the issue of resilience,” assured Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market. Who, in his response, however, glossed over the EU’s delays. From the timetable, after the closure of the public consultation, the Community executive should have concluded the evaluation of the stakeholder’s concerns and proceeded to adopt the text by the first quarter of 2024. 

Therefore, works are in progress at different levels in parallel. Regarding the disruption of global navigation satellite services (GNSS), Breton carried on, “Member States are developing receivers at the national level for the secure navigation service offered by Galileo,” the European Union’s civil satellite navigation and positioning system. Galileo, the EU commissioner assured, “supplies state-of-the-art protection against spoofing and jamming, ensuring robust and reliable performance even under jamming conditions.”

Europe seems to be in the position of responding to Chinese space initiatives. However, the echo of European maneuvers is already reaching Asia in the context of the new frontier of confrontation between countries and redefinitions of power relations. The possibility of using Copernicus, the Earth observation system, for military purposes is an incentive for Beijing to move forward with its strategy. It is space geopolitics that opens up to star war scenarios.