There's a lot of hype over this. And Bush has never demonstrated restraint. If you were Chinese, what would you think?

"President Bush has signed a new National Space Policy that rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone "hostile to U.S. interests."

"Air Force Seeks Bush's Approval for Space Weapons Programs."

"Weapons In Space: Dawn of a New Era."

I believe the reality is that the US is pushing China into becoming a superpower much faster than they otherwise would be. Smaller countries will, for instance, sell China oil in exchange for their forcing the US to moderate it's behavior. China will perceived as a protector.

And in the long run, with the US in decline on the world stage due to budget and trade deficits with the long-term problems those will cause, the 1.3 billion Chinese with that land mass will indeed overshadow the US sooner rather than later.

Japan will come to realize on which side it's bread is buttered, and Russia will have powerful incentives to get along with it's neighbor. Europe will become more and more dependent upon Russian petroleum reserves, and have a desire to work with Russia.

And Russia may just generate enough oil revenues to become something of a market for European goods.

Nope, I believe China has no choice but to develop an anti-satellite capacity. It demonstrates to the world an ability to stand up to the US, and Bush's warmongering ways make it seem prudent.

Arf