China’s ‘GW’ Project Aimed at Countering Elon Musk’s Starlink

SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks on a screen during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, on June 29, 2021. Nacho Doce/Reuters

Starlink, which is operated by SpaceX and has played a huge role in the Russian-Ukrainian war, has caused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) great concern. The Chinese regime has now revealed plans to counter Starlink with a project codenamed “GW.” However, whether China actually has the capability to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink in any way, shape, or form is questionable.

Recently, the CCP’s leading military research institute published an article saying that Starlink’s nearly 42,000 low-orbiting satellites are capable of providing high-speed internet and have great military potential, which poses a huge threat to the CCP’s space program. The article pointed out that is it necessary for China to find a way to counter Starlink.

CCP Seeks to Surpass Starlink

According to the CCP’s researchers, Chinese satellite company “China Satellite Network Group Co.” can construct China’s low-orbiting satellite network, which will be codenamed GW. China Satellite Network Group was established on April 28, 2021, directly by the State Council of the CCP to coordinate the deployment and operation of satellite communications. It has been revealed that the company is expected to launch nearly 13,000 low-orbit satellites.

James Andrew Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Epoch Times on March 3 that due to China lagging behind other countries in the area of satellite technology, it cannot occupy all of the low orbits and replace Starlink, and the launch of satellites needs to go through a UN approval process.

China’s Satellite Launches Far Less Efficient

Previously, Chinese state media reported that the CCP expects to launch an average of more than 180 satellites per year between 2023 and 2030, and more than 1,700 satellites per year between 2033 and 2035 to establish its satellite network.

On the other hand, SpaceX proposed to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in August 2021 the launch of 30,000 Starlink 2.0 satellites to replace the current lower-bandwidth Starlink 1.0 satellite system. The FCC has approved a total of 12,000 Starlink satellites for launch by SpaceX and may approve SpaceX’s plan for 30,000 more. In addition, Musk expects to launch Starlink 2.0 using Starship, which will be reusable and capable of sending people to space.

Xia Luoshan, host of “Military Focus,” told The Epoch Times on March 2 that the CCP’s plan involves two major goals: one is to construct China’s own Starlink equivalent to compete with the United States, and the other is to be able to launch attacks on U.S. satellites. “Neither of these two things is easy,“ he said. “Putting tens of thousands of satellites into orbit has only become possible since SpaceX launched reusable vehicles. I do not see the CCP having the same capability at this point.”

Attempts to Attack US Satellites

The CCP researcher’s article also claims that China’s satellites must suppress Starlink by deploying “lethal” weapons on them in order to destroy their reconnaissance and flight capabilities. Because the CCP sees the military value of Starlink and its role in the Russian-Ukrainian war, it sees Starlink as a threat and is seeking the means to be able to destroy it through electronic warfare and electromagnetic interference technologies.

Musk revealed on Oct. 7, 2022, that the Chinese regime had made it clear that it did not approve of his use of Starlink to help the Ukrainian military in the war, and the regime had asked him for assurances that Starlink services would not be sold in China. Musk also spoke in 2015 about the possibility of the CCP blowing up his Starlink satellite network if he provided an internet service that is not censored by the CCP.

The current international order dictates that there be no weapons placed in space, but the CCP’s ambitious agenda may change that.

Using Private Companies to Develop Military Satellites

The CCP has publicly incorporated satellite networks into its new infrastructure of communications networks, including 5G networks, AI, cloud computing, data centers, and blockchains, allowing low-orbit satellites to drive these technological developments. At the same time, the regime adopts a “military-civil fusion” approach in running its military development.

An April 2022 report in Taiwan’s National Defense and Security Fortnightly reported an increase in newly registered “private” commercial satellite companies in China, with more than six times as many registered in 2020 as in 2010, with these companies in essence being funded by the CCP behind the scenes but posing as private enterprises on the surface.

For example, Commsat, an ostensibly private company in Beijing, received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from the China Internet Investment Fund under the Chinese Ministry of Finance and from a number of Chinese state-owned enterprises.

The report also noted that China Great Wall Industry Corporation, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, launched six low-orbit communication satellites via non-reusable rockets in March last year as part of one of four low-orbit satellite systems proposed by the CCP. However, there have been no further breakthroughs in this satellite program.