SINGAPORE: “To explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build China into a space power is our eternal dream.”
These words by Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the country’s latest space white paper published in early 2022. At the time, Beijing was flush from its extraterrestrial achievements, such as a world-first landing on the dark side of the moon in 2019 and a historic first for the country in its touchdown on Mars in 2021.
Fast forward to now and Beijing is keeping its space ambitions fired up, blasting off towards a record launch year while charting further lunar and deep space explorations over the next decade.
The latest exploit was on Apr 25, when three Chinese astronauts embarked on China’s latest crewed mission to its homegrown space station. Barely a week before that, the Chinese military elevated the status of its space unit as part of a wider defence reorganisation.
From political prestige to scientific advancements – observers say the potential gain is clear as China reaches for the stars through its space ambitions. The rub is whether the world’s second-largest economy will keep the funds and focus flowing towards its ventures beyond Earth as domestic and external challenges loom ever larger.
“Slower overall economic growth in China may impact the government’s willingness to spend on space,” Mr Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told CNA.
Against this backdrop, analysts interviewed by CNA suggest that serious expansion of the commercial space arena could be key in easing pressure on Chinese government coffers by tapping private enterprise to supplement state endeavours while still advancing innovation and development.
At the same time, China has to consider how its earthly international relations could impact its ambitions beyond the atmosphere, especially with vocal callouts by American officials over security, spying and space territorial concerns.
“We should expect national activities in space to reflect geopolitical tensions on Earth,” said Mr Swope.
ROCKETING TOWARDS NEW HEIGHTS
China joined the space age many moons ago in 1970 with its first successful satellite launch. While its space programme has been grounded in progress ever since, data points to a meteoric rise in recent years.
One indicator is the number of orbital take-offs. According to a CSIS China Power report, China conducted 207 launches between 2010 and 2019, more than one-and-a-half times its count in the previous four decades.
The tally has only risen since then. China logged 225 space launches from 2020 to 2023. This year alone, the target set is “about 100” – a record high – as announced in end-February by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country’s leading space contractor.
This places China in second place globally – behind the US’ 269 launches from 2020 to 2023, but firmly in front of third-ranked Russia, which logged 68 take-offs across that same period.
