Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation has a very interesting article on The Space Review titled Dancing in the dark: The orbital rendezvous of SJ-12 and SJ-06F which details the apparent on-orbit rendezvous of two Chinese satellites.
"The rendezvous of two Chinese satellites demonstrates that China is broadening its space capabilities, but also touches on the greater issue of perceptions, trust, and safety in space activities that could impact the long-term sustainability of the space regime."
Jim Oberg, a veteran journalist and also a NASA veteran who worked in mission control, offered his thoughts in the topic:
"As a veteran of Mission Control orbital rendezvous missions with space shuttles, I found the article technically sound, and fairly persuasive. 'Rendezvous' was my call sign in Mission Control and has been my academic and professional specialization for forty years.
BUT if the article is accurate, the secrecy implies an ominous and probably military intent on the part of China.
There are potential innocuous justifications for developing the technology -- but in those cases, I would have expected China to brag openly about having done it."
Is this simply China secretly demonstrating a new capability without flaunting it to the world? Or does this signal a greater military role? In the recent past China has been more forthcoming with its exploits in space making sure the world knew what they had accomplished. By remaining silent on this event one could infer that it had military implications and has thus kept silent. In any case it does demonstrate a growing space capability by the Chinese.