Space

In this file photo taken on 2 May 2022, Elon Musk attends the 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, US. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America/AFP)

Elon Musk offended both sides of the Taiwan Strait

Tesla CEO Elon Musk drew widespread criticism for his comment on establishing Taiwan as a special administrative zone. While Musk raised his suggestions based on his own commercial interests, the controversial statement shows the impact of the Taiwan Strait issue for the business world. Is there a time and place for businessmen to tread on geopolitical issues?
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (second from right) with three former participants of the Hong Kong Space Museum's Young Astronaut Training Camp. (Weibo/李家超)

Hong Kong has a place in China's aerospace future

China recently announced that its space exploration programme will recruit payload specialists from Hong Kong and Macau, sparking excitement for the people of Hong Kong. While the announcement is a recognition of the special administrative region’s R&D capabilities, some believe that it is an effort to win over the people of Hong Kong and boost their sense of belonging and patriotism. Lianhe Zaobao’s China Desk takes a look at what this opportunity means for Hong Kong.
This handout image taken on 9 August 2022 and released by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) on 10 August 2022 shows a PLA fighter jet taking part in a military drill in an undisclosed location. (Handout/Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army/AFP)

Prominent PLA elites in 'the cosmos club': Countdown to the 20th Party Congress

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, notes that well-educated and professionally capable military technocrats are prominently represented in the PLA leadership, and this trend is set to continue after the 20th Party Congress. What contributions will this new corps of military technocrats make as Xi Jinping heads into a likely third term?
Onlookers watch the launch of a rocket transporting China’s second module for its Tiangong space station from the Wenchang spaceport in southern China on 24 July 2022. (CNS/AFP)

Rocket scientists in China's party leadership: Countdown to the 20th Party Congress

The rapid rise of “the cosmos club” has paralleled China's rising aspiration to take on a prominent role in the international “space club”. Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, takes a closer look at the career paths and institutional associations of emerging rocket scientists in China’s national and provincial leadership.
A model of China's Tiangong space station is seen at the Apsara Conference, a cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) conference, in Hangzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on 19 October 2021. (STR/AFP)

The rapid rise of 'the cosmos club' in the Xi Jinping era: Countdown to the 20th Party Congress

The presence of leaders in the CCP Central Committee with aerospace backgrounds is not new, but this group has never penetrated the national and provincial levels of leadership at the rate and scale that it has during the Xi Jinping era. Two and perhaps even three of them will be strong contenders for the Politburo at the 20th Party Congress, and most of them will play an important role in Xi Jinping’s third term and beyond, says Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution.
A Long March 7Y4 rocket carrying the Tianzhou 3 cargo ship launches from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in China's southern Hainan province, on a mission to deliver supplies to China's Tiangong space station on 20 September 2021. (STR/AFP)

The complex impact of China’s military-civil fusion in space

With China's accelerated efforts to become a great space power, including opening up its space sector to private firms, Western developed countries worry that China's military-civil fusion (MCF) strategy may see technology developed in the commercial sector being used to boost China's military space power in the future. Are these fears justified? Japanese academic Masaaki Yatsuzuka looks into the issue.
Liu Yang is China's first female astronaut in space, and a prominent member of the Shenzhou-14 crew. (CNS)

China’s Shenzhou-14 crewed mission: Mother of two an astronaut in space

China’s Shenzhou-14 spacecraft launched on 5 June, with the three astronauts on board taking on a six-month stint in space. Among them, the greatest focus has been on Liu Yang, China’s first woman in space and a vice-president of the All-China Women's Federation. Zaobao correspondent Yu Zeyuan tells us more about this prominent astronaut.
Astronauts (from left) Ye Guangfu, Wang Yaping and Zhai Zhigang wave during a ceremony ahead of the launch of the Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and them in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, 15 October 2021. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Can commercial space programmes take off in China?

EAI academic Qian Jiwei notes that as China’s space capabilities increase, the field is being opened up to private companies. This move is likely to spark off greater innovation and efficiency for the industry and give China a leg up in the space race, but challenges exist in offering targeted policies and managing innovative outputs.
A child stands near a giant screen showing the image of the Tianhe space station at China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing, China, 24 April 2021. (Tingshu Wang/File Photo/Reuters)

India-China space race: The role of the private sector

As geopolitical competition among global powers extends into outer space, major players are looking at how the private sector can play a bigger part in the space race and boost national space venturing capabilities. Yogesh Joshi and Ashmita Rana note that while India's space expenditure stands at only one-sixth of China's, and the latter seems to be leading the way in working with its private space firms, India's great ambitions and edge over China in working with global partners may give it a greater push to catch up.