Beijing has "secretly" shot a powerful ground-based laser through the lower atmosphere at an American spy satellite, blinding, but not destroying the surveillance device. The attacks were kept secret by the Bush administration, so as to not damage diplomatic relations (e.g. co-opting China in offensives against North Korea and Iran). According to Defense News, "after a contentious debate, the White House directed the Pentagon to limit its concern to one line," that China has a satellite-blinding laser. Alarmed nonetheless, the US military has been shooting lasers at its own satellites to guage the potential threat, which reflects the American concern about Chinese military expenditure - increasingly geared at challanging American pre-eminence by building weapons that attack key US systems: aircraft carriers, satellites.

Of course, China spies too. Multiple spy rings have been exposed and the FBI has increased the number of staff tracking the effort. Recently, China has been engaged in a massive espionage effort against American high-tech firms, like those working on the DD(X) destroyer program (a Navy project for a new guided missile destroyer, a multi-mission ship with a focus on land attack, equipped with 2 manned and 3 robotic helicopters and all sorts of guns and missiles). Before that, China was accused of carrying out economic espionage, the FBI claiming that China uses its nationals, who are sent to North America to study advanced technology, to infiltrate American companies to gain access to sensitive information and then return to China to set up their own companies or provide the information to the military. In 1999, the US congressional committee concluded that China obtained critical information about an array of US warheads, including its modern strategic thermonuclear weapons program, by theft from weapons labs and meticulous scanning of public information. So, spy versus spy continues… in space.

Beijing secretly fires lasers to disable US satellites, Telegraph.co.uk
China may seek satellite laser, Pentagon warns, FAS.org