”China’s Ambitions In Space Are Driven By The Need To Dominate, Marginalise Rivals”

NEW DELHI: China US rivalry on earth is being replicated in outer space: Beijing recently accused SpaceX of Elon Musk of deliberately engineering a near collision of one of their satellites with the Tiangong space station. Add to that, charges that SpaceX is closely tied in with the US military space programme and so on and so forth.

In this conversation on StratNewsGlobal, Chaitanya Giri of Dawon Advisory and Intelligence, argues that China is doing exactly what it is accusing the US of doing. China’s space programme is opaque and the role of the military is widely suspected. Giri says China’s presence in various UN agencies including the Office of Outer Space Affairs, is being used to build up its own power and pelf in the space arena.

India remains an outlier here. ISRO is only now gearing up to take on the challenges posed by not only China, but also a host of smaller nations like the UAE with deep pockets.

Listen in to this chat with Chaitanya Giri on the China-US rivalry in outer space and its implications for India.