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China’s Space Programme

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Asian Space Race: Rhetoric or Reality?

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Abstract

China’s space programme has been one of the most debated programmes in the recent past. Various analysts and academicians have written extensively on different aspects of this programme. This chapter offers a broad overview of the China’s space agenda. China being the most significant space player in Asia, various specifics of their space agenda are being discussed in detail in some of the other chapters of this book too. This chapter only makes brief mention of such space activities to avoid duplication.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Zheng Bijian developed his influential thesis of China’s ‘peaceful rise’ in 2003. For details please refer Zheng Bijian, China’s Peaceful Rise Speeches of Zheng Bijian 1997–2005, (Brookings Institution Press: Washington, DC, 2005).

  2. 2.

    http://www.space.com/news/060405_nss_china.html, accessed on Dec 22, 2009. Author has earlier done some work on the Chinese space programme which has been published in few journals. The structure of the work presented over here in regard to China’s space programme is based on some of the author’s earlier published and unpublished works. For the main reference to this chapter, please refer author’s earlier work ‘Future of Asian Space Powers’, The Journal of Defence and Security, Vol 2, No 1, 2011 (publication of Malaysian institute of Defence and Security, MiDAS).

  3. 3.

    www.astronautix.com/articles/china.htm, accessed on Aug 23, 2009.

  4. 4.

    For complete text of the White Papers, see http://www.spaceref.com/china/china.white.paper.nov.22.2000.html(2000), http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Oct/183588.htm(2006), and http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2011-12/29/c_131333479.htm(2011), accessed on January 18, 2012. Also, refer for entire discussion on white papers Ajey Lele and Gunjan Singh, ‘China’s White Papers on Space: An Analysis’, IDSA Issue Brief, Jan 20, 2012, http://www.idsa.in/system/files/IB_ChinasWhitePapersonSpaceAnAnalysis.pdf, accessed on Jan 28, 2012.

  5. 5.

    Encyclopedia Astronautica: China, available at www.astronautix.com/articles/china.htm, accessed on January 10, 2012.

  6. 6.

    Main sources for certain information in this portion about China’s space programme are :KK Nair, ‘China’s Space Programme: An Overview’, Air Power, Vol 1, No 1, Monsoon 2004 and Ajey Lele, ‘China as a Space Power’, Strategic Analysis, Apr-Jun 2002.

  7. 7.

    http://www.wsichina.org/space/program.cfm?programid=5&charid=1, accessed on Sep22, 2010.

  8. 8.

    http://www.space.com/14048-china-satellite-launch-breaks-rocket-record.htmland www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/china-rocket-launches/, accessed on Sep 12, 2012.

  9. 9.

    ‘China announces new launch rockets’, Feb 6, 2012 http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_announces_new_launch_rockets_999.html, accessed on Feb 8, 2012.

  10. 10.

    http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/china/comm.htm, accessed on Sept 5, 2010.

  11. 11.

    http://www.indiasummary.com/2010/09/06/china-sinosat-6-communication-satellite-launched-successfully-by-chinese/, accessed on Oct 9, 2010.

  12. 12.

    http://www.sinodefence.com/space/military/fsw.asp, accessed on Feb 7, 2012.

  13. 13.

    http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Space-Systems-and-Industry/Yaogan-series-China.html, accessed on Sep 14, 2012.

  14. 14.

    http://www.eoportal.org/directory/pres_Tsinghua1.htmland http://www.spaceandtech.com/spacedata/logs/2000/2000-033c_tsinghua-1_sumpub.shtml, accessed on Oct 12, 2010.

  15. 15.

    www.astronautix.com/articles/china.htm, accessed on Jul 23, 2009.

  16. 16.

    http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002655/and http://rt.com/news/fhobos-grund-mission-123/and http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Yinghuo_Was_Worth_It_999.html, accessed on Nov 12, 2011.

  17. 17.

    http://www.space.com/news/060405_nss_china.html

  18. 18.

    Annual Report to Congress, The Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2005, (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Secretary of Defense, July 2005), p.36 http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2005/d20050719china.pdf

  19. 19.

    This quotation, supposedly made by John F. Kennedy, is widespread among Chinese publications and speeches. Zhao Kejin, “China Does Not Need to Start a “Space Race” with the U.S”, http://watchingamerica.com/News/53913/china-does-not-need-to-start-a-space-race-with-the-u-s/, accessed on Nov 24, 2011.

  20. 20.

    For the comments and suggestions to the CD Working Paper CD/1679, please refer http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches03/PAROSwp.htm, accessed on Sept 24, 2011.

  21. 21.

    http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1828/1, accessed on Sept 25, 2011.

  22. 22.

    For details of their metrological space services and information on FY series satellites with the meteorological payloads, please refer http://earth.eo.esa.int/dragon/Opening-L1-ZhangP.pdf, accessed on Jan 26, 2011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses, Rao Tula Ram Marg, New Delhi, India

    Ajey Lele

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Lele, A. (2013). China’s Space Programme. In: Asian Space Race: Rhetoric or Reality?. Springer, India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-0733-7_7

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