The military has the capability to disrupt China's satellite transmissions but knows better than to do so, a defense official in charge of electronic warfare said yesterday.
"It is technically not difficult to break into China's satellite transmissions as long as the frequency and other relevant data of the targeted satellite are known," said Major General Chen Wen-chien (陳文建), executive officer of the office of deputy chief of the general staff for communication and information.
"But the military will not consider doing this, for both political and technical reasons." He did not elaborate on the subject.
Chen made the remarks yesterday at a regular press conference of the Ministry of National Defense as part of his response to inquiries from the press over whether the military might have been involved in the recent hijacking of China's satellite transmissions -- as alleged by Beijing.
Chen, who is in charge of the nation's electronic warfare department, denied the allegation and used of the occasion to highlight the military's advances in electronic warfare (EW) and information warfare (IW) in recent years.
"Our major concerns in recent years have been the development of EW and IW capabilities. Investments in these fields will be more than what the air force or navy can get for their respective weapons acquisitions next year," Chen said.
"In recent years, we have included EW and IW simulations in every major exercise of the three armed services. So far this year, a total of 13 exercises have been held that involved EW and IW simulations," he said.
Chen also revealed that the military will establish an IW laboratory in partnership with several academic institutions.
He declined to confirm, however, whether a similar laboratory has been established to test and simulate EW equipment and weapons.
The latter laboratory has been rumored to have been in operation for some time, providing the three armed services with opportunities to test weapons with EW capabilities before putting them into service.
A secret test site has also been marked out by the military off the eastern coast for testing its EW equipment, sources said.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the current development of EW and IW capabilities will lay the foundation for a "space war" that the military is preparing for.
"The military's plan for the `space war' is to use ground-based or airborne equipment to jam the signals of China's military and commercial satellites when it becomes necessary," the official said.
"We are currently increasing our capability to receive and detect satellite signals to and from China."
"Various types of data must be collected to make this possible," he said. "The final goal is to jam China's satellite signals by using the data that have been collected."
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