Anti-satellite (ASAT) Weapons Test ?

In January 2007, when Beijing destroyed one of its own weather satellites with a ballistic missile, the news media carried the story globally, including Foreign Affairs magazine. At that time and subsequent thereto, many have questioned Beijing’s intended purpose. The number of those who have asserted that it was completely accidental, unintentional, and not meant to state anything has really surprised me, yet I am unable to embrace such a peaceful, laissez faire notion.

I, personally, believe that this was an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons test, intended as a warning shot at Washington concerning U.S. military prowess. After all, military strategists have argued for some time that Beijing needed to develop this kind of asymmetric capability in order to bridge the growing gap between the United States' military supremacy and China's own, in preparation for a potential clash in the Taiwan Strait. With the U.S. now as heavily dependent upon assets in space for real-time communications, weapons trajectory, battlefield awareness, intelligence interception and interdiction, etc., this launch may likely have been an attempt by Beijing to show Washington how they could overcome such logistical shortcomings in a relatively simple manner.

What do you think?