The US' stated pacing threat is the PRC. Talking about a shared overton window between US and China about weaponization of space in the context of full competit

The US' stated pacing threat is the PRC. Talking about a shared overton window between US and China about weaponization of space in the context of full competition is nonsensical. The only way the US can reasonably compel PRC to not employ ASAT weapons (remember, if China is willing to fire on US satellites, then they've already decided that overall conflict with the US is acceptable) is to have a credible force to respond in kind, and hope that some sort of equilibrium can be reached. The most likely equilibrium is both sides going ham on each other's satellites. Another challenge is that ASAT and BMD capabilities seem to be highly linked (or at least that seems to be the US analysis of China's BMD tests) - see https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CASI/documents/Research/CASI%20Articles/2021-02-09%20BMD-ASAT%20test.pdf https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CASI/documents/R... In that sense, since the US cannot reasonably apply any pressure preventing China from developing ASAT systems (since they could just be developed under the guise of BMD), then the only ways to prevent China from employing ASAT systems is to impose a credible risk/cost.