USCC-Sponsored Report: China Dream, Space Dream: China’s Progress in Space Technologies and Implications for the United States

USCC REPORT:  China Dream, Space Dream March 2, 2015

USCC-Sponsored Report:  China Dream, Space Dream:  China’s Progress in Space Technologies and Implications for the United States Washington, DC – Today, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released a report prepared for the Commission by Kevin Pollpeter, Eric Anderson, Jordan Wilson, and Fan Yang of the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.  The report examines China’s space programs and how they advance China’s national security, economic, and diplomatic interests. According to the report, China’s goal is to become a space power on par with the United States. The report details the varied applications of China’s space programs. For China’s defense capabilities, the use of space power can facilitate long-range strikes, guided munitions, improved connectivity, and greater jointness across its armed forces.  For China’s economic growth, space technologies have the potential to create markets for new technologies with commercial uses that increase industry competitiveness.  Politically, space power provides leverage that China can use to influence international outcomes.  Lastly, the report describes how the Chinese government uses the nation’s space program to demonstrate the success of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership to domestic audiences. To date, however, China’s efforts to use its space program to achieve economic and diplomatic interests remain underdeveloped.  As a relative late comer to the international space community, China has relied on the pioneering work of the United States and Russia.  This reliance has led Chinese space technologies to consistently lag behind those of the United States.   As a result, the report characterizes China as a “partial space power,” ill-equipped to translate its space program and status as a global actor into sufficient influence.  With improved military capabilities, and the potential for growth in the commercial aerospace industry, China’s development in space technologies will enable it to more effectively wield international power to promote its interests.  The report describes China’s growing space capabilities as having “negative-sum consequences” for U.S. economic and military security.  At its current trajectory, China’s space program will eventually adequately support modern military operations, compete commercially, and deliver political gains to serve the broader strategic interest of China being a major international power. Read the full report here. DISCLAIMER: This report was prepared at the request of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission to support its deliberations. Posting of the report to the Commission’s website is intended to promote greater public understanding of the issues addressed by the Commission in its ongoing assessment of U.S.-China economic relations and their implications for U.S. security, as mandated by Public Law 106-398 and Public Law 108-7. However, it does not necessarily imply an endorsement by the Commission or any individual Commissioner of the views of conclusions expressed in this commissioned research report.    The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created by Congress to report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.