While China works on developing advanced space lasers and microwave weapons, the CCP is also planning to double the size of its space station over the next several years, as part of a larger effort to lure international space missions away from NASA's International Space Station (ISS), which is slated to be decommissioned sometime around 2030.
The Chinese station, known as the Celestial Palace, will now contain six modules instead of three, and the lifespan of the facility will be increased to more than 15 years vs. 10 years.
The Celestial Palace, currently home to three astronauts, reached full operational status late last year.
After the expansion, it will still only be about half as large as the ISS, and won't be able to host as many astronauts simultaneously.
The CCP has claimed that it will become a "major space power" around the time the ISS is decommissioned in seven years.
The China Academy of Space Technology, a unit within the CCP primary space contractor, announced the plan at an astronautical forum in Azerbaijan on Oct. 4.
The announcement follows several claims by Chinese state-owned media last year that “several countries” had already reached out to the CCP in the hopes of being included in future missions to the station. -Epoch Times
While the CCP says lots of countries want to board their station, the European Space Agency said earlier this year that they don't have the budgetary or political approval to green-light European astronauts for future missions. The USA, meanwhile, has banned any official collaboration between NASA and the CCP space program.
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Space Competition Raises Security Concerns
Space is becoming an increasingly important part of the ongoing competition between the United States and the CCP. That's particularly true when it comes to gray-zone conflict, in which the two nations engage in hostilities stopping somewhere short of kinetic warfare.
To that end, retired Gen. David Thompson, then the U.S. Space Force’s vice chief of space operations, said in 2021 that the CCP was attacking U.S. space infrastructure “every single day.”
These reversible attacks, in which U.S. satellite architecture or cyber systems are compromised temporarily, have largely been seen as China's preparation for a real war.
Similarly, the regime is conducting research and development of capabilities that could dismantle space-based U.S. infrastructure, upon which its navigation and missile defense systems are built.
The CCP has itself stated that it's on a mission to become the global leader in space exploration, technology, and law-making, according to an official white paper released earlier in the year.
“In the next five years, China will integrate space science, technology, and applications while pursuing the new development philosophy, building a new development model, and meeting the requirements for high-quality development,” the report reads.
“It will start a new journey toward space power.”
The use of the Celestial Palace as a means of projecting soft power is therefore an important aspect of the CCP’s attempts to dismantle U.S. influence and values internationally by projecting an image of the socialist regime as an alternative to U.S. liberal democratic leadership.
Reuters contributed to this report.
