Chinese Space Policy Narrative in 2000–2022: Comparative Analysis of Five White Papers on Space

Abstract

The People's Republic of China is in a state of transition from the first tier of emerging space actors to developed ones. The country represents a unique case, reaching the same "firsts" but at a faster pace, making a shift from a reactive to a proactive space policy, from being one of the space followers to turning into one of the space leaders.China has published five White Papers on space activities over the past 23 years: in 2000, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2022. They provide a concise overview of China's key achievements in this field and its strategic goals for the next five years.The aim of this comparative analysis is to track the evolutionary processes that took place in the Chinese space policy narrative from 2000 to 2022. The White Papers are compared according to the following five criteria: 1) aims and principles; 2) progress made in space technology, applications, and science; 3) development concepts; 4) international cooperation guidelines; and 5) major bilateral, multilateral, and commercial events in space collaboration.Such core elements of space technology as the space transportation system, space infrastructure, manned spaceflight, and deep space exploration are considered with a focus on China's achievements in these areas.This paper attempts to construct a holistic picture of China's space policies based on a critical analysis of the five White Papers. The crucial features that make Chinese space narrative especially progressive, appealing, and captivating are defined. Attention is paid to the essential elements that are of special interest in the field of international relations and foreign politics. The role of Ukraine in bilateral space cooperation is mentioned.