The Space Race: Why China Is Looking to Africa to Outsmart the US

The Yutu-2 moon rover, taken by the Chang'e-4 lunar probe on the far side of the moon on Jan. 11, 2019. China will seek to establish an international lunar base one day, possibly using 3D printing technology to build facilities, the Chinese space agency said on Jan. 14, 2019, weeks after landing the rover on the moon's far side. China National Space Administration/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

In a recent Politico interview, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) administrator Bill Nelson warned readers that this space race is fraught with danger.

For example, if China gets “to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research,” he said, “it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’”

In December, U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command, also sounded the alarm on China’s space ambitions. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), he warned, believes that “space is a very important piece to not only their economic or the global economic environment, but also the military environment.” That is why “we continue to watch that very closely as they continue to increase capabilities.” One wonders if Dickinson and his colleagues are watching the continent of Africa closely.

As the United States looks to Australia and the United Kingdom to further its space ambitions, China looks to Africa to further its own. The question, though, is why?

In the immortal words of Gene Roddenberry, space is “the final frontier.” The 20^th century gave us a space race for the ages, with two titans competing for celestial supremacy (spoiler alert, the United States won). Fast forward half a century and countries are talking about manned missions to Mars a decade from now. Some experts have poured copious amounts of cold water on the idea, arguing that we’ll never get to the Red Planet. They say that the idea of landing humans on such a deeply inhospitable planet isn’t realistic. That’s why the moon matters so much. It’s now 54 years since Neil Armstrong took “one giant leap for mankind,” and the United States is desperate to land another human on Earth’s only natural satellite. This fact is not lost on China, now racing to beat the United States to the satellite punch.

After recently discovering Changesite-(Y), a new lunar mineral that has the potential to become a key energy source, China is moon obsessed. The CCP aims to launch at least three unmanned missions to the moon this decade. Beijing has also made its desire to land astronauts—or taikonauts, as they are referred to by China—on the moon perfectly clear. A crewed mission by 2030  looks increasingly likely. But—and this is a point of vital importance—China is interested in conquering more than just the moon. The CCP wants to dominate space, the vast, airless zone surrounding our planet.

As AP News noted in September last year, U.S. intelligence is understandably concerned. The CCP, according to AP, is currently “building capabilities to take out the satellite systems that underpin U.S. intelligence, military communications and early warning networks.” This is where Africa enters the picture. As I have documented in great detail, China has a presence in almost every one of the 54 African countries. Now, as authors at Voice of America (VOA) have discussed, it’s using the continent to establish more space satellites. This move deserves a great deal of scrutiny for many reasons.

The new space race will be defined by satellites, which are used to collect copious amounts of data. Moreover, satellites in Africa help China further its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agenda. Yes, it seems even space, is part of China’s BRI. As researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies have noted, the construction of numerous remote sensing satellite networks across Africa enables Beijing to “support logistical integration” of BRI partner states.

A rocket carrying two satellites lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province on July 25, 2019. STR/AFP via Getty Images

In a truly eye-opening piece that appeared in Independent Online (IOL), a news website based in South Africa, two scholars, David Monyae and Zhu Ming, describe the importance of satellites in great detail. “The remote-sensed data from space satellites,” write the authors, “supply information that is used in agriculture, environment monitoring, land utilisation, urban planning, hydrography, geology, and commerce among other things.”

Although this technology has “the potential to make important contributions towards socio-economic development,” it also has the ability to provide the CCP with inordinate amounts of data. The space race, as is clear to see, revolves around surveillance and data harvesting.

In September last year, the CCP launched a mysterious spy satellite that was supposedly designed to monitor land, crop yield, and natural disasters. At the same time, however, this satellite could just as easily be used to gather military intelligence (or any other type of intelligence).

As the aforementioned VOA piece noted, the African space economy, worth close to $20 billion, is expected to grow 16 percent over the next three years. At this point in time, only 13 African nations own satellites; six of them were purchased from China (one from the United States). Nigeria, a country with close ties to China, owns two of these satellites. In 2017, as VOA added, the CCP launched Algeria’s first communication satellite. A year later, Algeria’s neighbor, Tunisia, “became the site of the first ground receiving station outside of China for its Beidou Satellite Navigation System.”

Space technology must be viewed through a more pragmatic lens. We view satellites as instruments for space exploration and furthering our knowledge of distant planets when they’re really just an evolution of military and defense operations. Space is just a new battlefield for countries to compete in.

This is why China continues to invest large amounts of money in space-centered technologies. Yes, the CCP wants to get to the moon. Yes, the CCP has aspirations of getting taikonauts to Mars. However, in the here and now, the CCP is interested in using outer space to advance its worldly agendas. The fact that it is so heavily involved in Africa, the world’s fastest-growing continent, should surprise no one. Forty-six African countries are members of the BRI. Many of these countries are heavily indebted to Beijing. As the VOA piece emphasized, the CCP is not interested in helping Africa; it’s there to get as much “economic, social, and cultural capital” as possible. Worryingly, it appears to be succeeding.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.