en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASAT_program_of_China

This distance threshold is far too large.

NASA documentation on human-spaceflight conjunction operations says that, for ISS operations, a conjunction is screened within a "4km x 50km x 50km box" and maneuvers are based on collision-risk thresholds, not a blanket 1,000-mile rule. Another NASA presentation on ISS conjunction operations says ISS maneuver decisions use probability thresholds such as 1-in-10,000 and 1-in-100,000, again not an automatic 1,000-mile trigger.

NASA's own ISS blog also gives real examples that are orders of magnitude smaller than 1,000 miles: in October 2022 NASA said the station maneuvered because a debris fragment was predicted to pass within about three miles of the ISS.

So the article's claim that the ISS "will move if anything gets within 1,000 miles" is incorrect. NASA's published screening and maneuver practices are much tighter and risk-based.

The key date here is wrong.

An official SASTIND page says that in March 2008 the 11th National People's Congress decided not to retain the old COSTIND and to establish the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) instead. That means SASTIND did not exist in 1998 and therefore could not have been "absorbed into the GAD" when the GAD was created that year.

A second official source from the Ministry of Education, dated January 15, 2008, still refers to "国防科工委主任张庆伟" (Zhang Qingwei, director of COSTIND). That shows COSTIND was still operating in early 2008, immediately before the March 2008 reorganization.

So the article conflates COSTIND and SASTIND and places the reorganization a decade too early.

This claim uses the wrong agency name for that period.

Official SASTIND history says the old COSTIND was not abolished until March 2008, when the National People's Congress decided to create the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Official Chinese government sources from 2007 identify Zhang Yunchuan as "国防科工委主任张云川" — i.e., director of COSTIND, not SASTIND. Since SASTIND was only established in 2008, Zhang Yunchuan could not have been its director from 2003 to 2007.

Official sources contradict both the agency name and the tenure.

A Ministry of Education page dated January 15, 2008 identifies "国防科工委主任张庆伟" — Zhang Qingwei as director of COSTIND. That alone shows he was not director of SASTIND in 2007 or early 2008, because SASTIND did not yet exist.

An official State Council personnel notice then says that on March 18, 2008, Chen Qiufa was appointed vice minister of Industry and Information Technology and director of SASTIND. So Zhang Qingwei was not the head of SASTIND through 2009.

The year is wrong.

The State Council's official personnel notice says that on March 18, 2008, Chen Qiufa was appointed vice minister of Industry and Information Technology and director of the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

That appointment is also reflected in later 2008 official reporting: a November 2008 provincial government article refers to "国防科工局局长陈求发" (SASTIND director Chen Qiufa). So he did not replace Zhang Qingwei in 2009; he was already serving as SASTIND chief in 2008.