In a previous post I talked about how China is looking to outflank the US in virtually every area in a political version of the game ‘Go’. They swooped in and filled the trade vacuum left when Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership by implementing their own version, RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) and getting 15 Pacific nations to join including US allies Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia. I have talked about how they have implemented and are continuing to expand rail service between China and Europe. In addition, they are investing billions of dollars in Africa. This is all part of a typical ‘Go’ strategy and now the landscape has gotten even more complex.
China and Russia announced that they have signed a memorandum of agreement to collaborate on lunar missions. This could entail establishing a research station in orbit around or on the surface of the moon. China has been precluded from participating in US missions to the International Space Station because US law prohibits NASA from cooperating with Beijing. So, China has been very aggressive about advancing their own space program and here we are.
“The joint announcement by China and Russia on Tuesday has the potential to scramble the geopolitics of space exploration, once again setting up competing programs and goals for the scientific and, potentially, commercial exploitation of the moon. This time, though, the main players will be the United States and China, with Russia as a supporting player.
In recent years, China has made huge advances in space exploration, putting its own astronauts in orbit and sending probes to the moon and to Mars. It has effectively drafted Russia as a partner in missions that it has already planned, outpacing a Russian program that has stalled in recent years.”1
“China pledged to keep the joint project with Russia “open to all interested countries and international partners,” as the statement put it, but it seemed all but certain to exclude the United States and its allies in space exploration”.1
It should be patently apparent to everyone given all of the above that the long-term survival of the United States is 100 percent dependent upon building strong international relationships and alliances. A policy of ‘going it alone’ will lead to the ultimate demise of the United States. It might not even take a war to make that happen. The US will just become irrelevant on the world stage.
China is aggressively playing their game of ‘Go’ and, unfortunately, the Biden administration is inheriting a geo-political mess where we are now having to play ‘catch up.’ It is not a comfortable position to be in. I have included some excerpts from an article in the NY Times about the challenges we face now that we are in another space race – on top of all of the other international political challenges we face.
“Beijing is intent on dominating the democratized space age. It is building ground-based lasers that can zap spacecraft and rehearsing cyberattacks meant to sever the Pentagon from its orbital fleets.
Seven years ago, Washington seized on a new strategy for strengthening the United States military’s hand in a potential space war. The plan evolved during the Obama and Trump administrations and, it is expected to intensify under President Biden.2
The five takeaways identified in this article regarding the Chinese space program are:
- China is rushing to dominate space with powerful new weapons
- Cyberattacks emerged as a cheaper way to take out U.S. space fleets
- Washington is bolstering space entrepreneurs to thwart Beijing
- The Trump administration sought an offensive edge
- The Biden administration aims for orbital resilience
While I agree with all of the above, I would add the need for greater international cooperation between the US and the European Space Agency and NATO. With China and Russia teaming up for the new space race, the US is going to have to meet this challenge head on and an ‘America first’ policy just won’t cut it. Congress has to have the courage and foresight to allocate sufficient funding to counter this threat. And the American public needs to understand that this is a very real threat and any money allocated to counter this threat by developing a very robust space capability via trips to the moon, Mars and beyond is not ‘wasted’ money but an investment in the very survival of this country.