Eyes Open Report

The Chinese government is considering vastly expanding its network of surveillance and observation satellites that would build their networks stature to the size, or even larger, then the one operated by United States.

China cited the frustrating, so far failed, search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as a reason to expand its global scope of surveillance which has gained support from Beijing lawmakers.

“If we had a global monitoring network today, we wouldn’t be searching in the dark. We would have a much greater chance to find the plane and trace it to its final position,” Professor Chi Tianhe, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth told The South China Morning Post.

“The plan is being drafted to expand our regional monitoring capability to global coverage.”

If the plan gets the go-ahead from lawmakers its expected to launch in as few as two years.

The Chinese governments current satellite surveillance capabilities are a state secret, though it is thought most carry out surveillance over China and closely surrounding region’s.

There are more the 1,000 satellites in orbit above the earth, most used for communication. According to statistics from the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists 50 are earth-observation, remote-sensing and military-surveillance satellites.

This is a prime example of government never letting a “crisis go to waste”. (You might remember Rahm Emanuel famously saying.) In a world where privacy is quickly vanish in the name of fighting terrorism, the Chinese government is now bringing humanity closer to the total surveillance state that many are beginning to fear.

The secrecy of the extent of China’s network of satellite surveillance and the recorded 50 earth-observing military satellites could arguably strike that fear in this very moment.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

This article originally appeared on Eyes Open Report.