U.S. vs. China Is the Next Great Space Race
According to the executive summary of the 2019 Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, released just last month, China aims:
to establish a leading position in the economic and military use of outer space ... In pursuit of this goal, China has dedicated high-level attention and ample funding to catch up to and eventually surpass other spacefaring countries in terms of space-related industry, technology, diplomacy, and military power. If plans hold to launch its first long-term space station module in 2020, it will have matched the United States' nearly 40-year progression from first human spaceflight to first space station module in less than 20 years.
Far from lauding China's progress, however, the report was meant to raise an alarm. As the commission warns, Beijing "plans not merely to explore space, but to industrially dominate the space within the moon's orbit of Earth." China "uses its space program to advance its terrestrial geopolitical objectives" and is deploying "aggressive state-backed financing" to establish "a commanding position in the commercial launch and satellite sectors." Long-term, China has a "military-civil fusion strategy" to turn space into "a critical U.S. military and economic vulnerability."
Source Fool.com
