China is claiming satellite orbits on paper, before its rockets are readyChina's Starlink Response

China has recovered rocket boosters with Long March 10B and Zhuque-3, while countering Starlink through mass spectrum filings and jamming research — though destroying it kinetically would also wreck China's own orbital assets.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 settles itself gently back onto the ground. China has now done it too. In July, the first stage of Long March 10B dropped into a netted metal box on a sea barge, making China the third country to recover a rocket booster.

In December, LandSpace's Zhuque-3 failed on its first attempt, smashing into the Gobi as a fireball. On August 18 it tried again, and stood up.

Why reuse matters so much

Starlink has over 10,000 satellites, roughly 70% of everything in low Earth orbit. China launched 371 satellites in 2025; SpaceX launched 3,169. Without cheap reusable rockets, China cannot build a constellation of its own.

But Blaine Curcio, founder of Orbital Gateway Consulting, is blunt: this is 'a meaningful step forward', with little short-term gain in launch capacity.

Can't beat it, so grab the parking spots

China's response runs on two tracks: stop Starlink from growing, or be able to switch it off.

The first move is paper satellites. Under ITU rules, first to file wins. At the end of 2025 China filed for two constellations totalling nearly 200,000 satellites. Even if none ever launch, rivals are locked out until the early 2030s.

On jamming, one study reckons drones strung in a grid at 20km altitude could each cover 38.5 square km. Scaled to the area of Taiwan, that means coordinating nearly a thousand of them — close to impossible in a real conflict.

Shooting them down is worse. Blow up 10,000 satellites and the debris threatens China's own 1,200-plus satellites in low Earth orbit, making future launches far harder.

The bottom line

The most intimidating card is the one that cuts its holder too.