The Day China Dominates Space: A Modern History of Space Security

June 24, 2021

This book is structured in three parts, examining the history, current status, and future of space development and space security, focusing on China, the United States, and Japan. While the central theme is the struggle for space hegemony between the U.S. and China, I wrote it with a strong focus on what Japan's goals were and how it acted during each era.

"Space" is often seen as a symbol of human dreams and hopes, but this is only a small part of space activities. Originally, rockets were born as part of missile development—an effective means of delivering nuclear weapons. Rockets and missiles are technically almost identical devices, differing only in whether a satellite or a weapon is mounted on the tip. It is presumed that space development, which requires enormous funding, would not have progressed so rapidly if the United States and the Soviet Union (now Russia) had not engaged in a fierce nuclear arms race shortly after the end of World War II.

Although space development began for military purposes, space has also become indispensable for improving the convenience, safety, and security of civilian life—for example, car navigation systems were created from positioning and navigation satellite signals used to improve missile accuracy, and spy satellite technology is used for disaster monitoring and Earth observation. In fact, for a period after the Cold War, the world was optimistic that space would continue to develop in this direction. China, which was becoming increasingly wealthy at the time, actively participated in United Nations space activities and was warmly welcomed by Western nations, and bilateral space business between the U.S. and China also progressed.

However, the end of the U.S.-China honeymoon resulted in the leakage of U.S. space and missile technology through various illegal and legal means, which improved China's nuclear forces and space weapon capabilities. Today, China surpasses the United States in some areas. Furthermore, having been shut out of the U.S. market, China has sought opportunities in developing countries and is successfully implementing the "Space Belt and Road" under the Xi Jinping administration.

Incidentally, Japan, which was prohibited from aerospace activities during the occupation, is the only country that succeeded in launching rockets using 100 percent domestic technology, independent of military purposes. The true purpose of this book was to empirically describe how Japan—after its subsequent breakthroughs, slowdowns, and setbacks—is now working to improve its space capabilities with a determination to protect its territory and democracy.

The Day China Dominates Space: A Modern History of Space Security

Setsuko Aoki

Shincho Shinsho

224 pages, 836 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.