When the Earth is not Enough: China’s Race for the Space

Abstract

This article aims to emphasise the importance of the race for Space to China. The main argument is that the intense competition for the access to reserves of fresh water, energy resources and rare minerals on planet Earth, along with the ambition of affirmation on the international scene, and an effort to preserve the continuity of the Chinese Communist Party in power, motivate China to embark on a space adventure. In fact, we will try to demonstrate that in a not too distant future, and due to the constant improvement in technology, it will not be inappropriate to speculate that Space can offer several resources that will become increasingly scarce on planet Earth. And, while the most populous country in the world, it makes sense that China dares to explore boundaries until then regarded as unlikely – the asteroids or the Moon – in search of the resources that its population and economy will need, when the Earth will no longer suffice. Besides the political and economic motivations, we will conclude that Space is still important to China in a war context, to the extent that it houses military and civilian satellites, which can easily be neutralised by depriving a rival State to have access to its own sources of information, crucial in a context of military hostility. The qualitative method (hermeneutics) is the methodology that will guide this investigation.