Alexander Downer

The West is falling behind China in the next space race

(Photo: Getty)

It is the first duty of governments to keep their citizens safe, protecting them from harm. This means constantly being vigilant. We have to keep a close eye on our adversaries and competitors and their capabilities, whether they are states, organisations or individuals. But vigilance is not enough on its own – imagination is also vital.

Twenty years ago, after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the 9/11 Commission concluded that ‘the most important failure was one of imagination’. The security threat from jihadists was seen but not properly understood, even by leading experts. They had all the available facts. They just hadn’t used their imagination to join the dots and see the gravity of the threat.

Is there a similar blind spot, two decades later, on space policy? It seems like it. On an almost weekly basis, we hear of a remarkable technological breakthrough by China – a rival and potential adversary in the era of great power competition – often taking us by surprise.

Above all, the UK and its allies need leadership that takes space seriously

The last two breakthroughs have been especially alarming. China has tested a hypersonic missile that was faster and far more accurate than western analysts expected. The Chinese also launched a satellite, the Shijian 21, to test new ‘technologies to neutralise space debris’. The Head of US Space Command, General James Dickinson, thinks China’s goal is more sinister. He has warned the US Congress that the technology could in fact be used for ‘grappling other satellites’ – in other words, to attack American and other western assets in space.

China, more than any other nation, has recognised that a new space race is on – and that space is a strategic sector, vital to security and questions of geopolitical balance.

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