Why did China not militarize space in the 1970s according to the discussed history?

• A. China's Central Military Commission (CMC) wanted to militarize space, but China did not have the resources to do so.
• B. China's first satellite was a co-orbital ASAT test, but it failed, discouraging further military space development for over a decade.
• C. China did not want to antagonize the Soviet Union by developing capabilities that Moscow might consider threatening.
• D. At this time, Mao Zedong was leading China, and his 'people's war' concept relied on massed infantry and did not require space capabilities.

Answer: (D)

The main idea being tested is how a country's strategic doctrines and resource priorities shape whether it pursues space militarization. In 1970s China, Maoist thinking centered on the “people’s war”—relying on massed ground forces, political mobilization, and infantry-heavy warfare rather than high-technology, space-based capabilities. This approach made space militarization seem unnecessary for achieving security goals, especially when resources were strained by domestic upheavals like the Cultural Revolution and the PLA’s emphasis on conventional, land-based defense. The leadership did invest in space technology, but the prevailing military philosophy did not prioritize turning space into a battlefield domain, so no push emerged to militarize space. The option about a failed satellite test is historically inaccurate, since China’s early space efforts did yield functioning satellites and did not hinge on a single failed milestone to stall development. The idea that antagonizing the Soviet Union would prevent space militarization is less aligned with the era’s actual drivers, since Maoist doctrine and domestic priorities outweighed such strategic optics in explaining the choice.